Vita Per Sempre
by I am Alice Cullen
Summary: 25 years ago, Bella was kidnapped by the volturi, shortly afterwards giving birth to twins Jade and Elizabeth. After the two escape, they are on a mission to set free their mother. They meet up with the Cullens, and questions arise. What is the conection?
1. Chapter 1

The dark, black night smothered the streets of Voltura, Italy. The dim lights of the small lanterns that hung over the shop windows reflected off the worn, cobble stone roads, thus filling the narrow streets with somewhat of a choked light. The stars glittered in the heavens above, shinning brighter than the city lights bellow, their ancient brightness unable to be contained by the equally ancient, timeless darkness.

A scattered handful of innocent, oblivious civilians wandered the streets aimlessly, their long, dark cloaks blending in with the darkness. Occasionally, a civilian would step into the dim glow of the shop lanterns to find themselves face to face with another civilian. They would stop abrupt ably, excuse themselves politely in quiet, apologetic tones, step around each other and wander in the darkness once again.

A black alley cat stalks silently toward the narrow end of the narrow street, its emerald green eyes staring intently ahead, as though something terribly exciting were to pop out, such as a plate of fresh fish. It trots along, never slowing down for a second; lightly stepping over the pebbles that litters the road before coming to a stop at the end of the street.

Before it lays a seemingly empty acropolis, ancient buildings lining its edges, directly ahead a clock tower hovers over the buildings, its face lost in darkness. The fountain in the middle of the acropolis eliminated a dim glow, the light reflecting off ripples, thus glowing off the surrounding walls.

The cat continues its way toward the pond with caution, its ears twitching as it listens to the distant hushed voices and the sounds of the crickets.

Just before reaching the outer stone wall of the fountain, the sound of the swishing of a garment sends the cat to a stop, its fur sticking up, its eyes wide with terror and its breathing short and quick. As far as it can see, no other living organism is in the acropolis but itself.

The swishing comes again, gentle and soft, brushing against stone. Cold night wind brushes the cat's whiskers as its head frantically darts from side to side, searching for the source of the sound.

Its tense muscles relax as it locates the source of the sound. In one of the ancient surrounding buildings, a window has been left open. A white, fringed curtain flutters in the wind, brushing against the old stone frame.

The cat returns its attention to the stone wall above it, its muscles winding up as it prepares to spring. After a moment, it springs into the air with grace and poise, the faint light glittering dimly off its black fur for a millisecond. The cat lands on the wall, peering into the pond. The water glows, making the water look a metallic light blue, the reflection of the ripples danced and you could now perfectly see the cat.

As the cat leaned down, staring at the water intently, a dog barks in the distance. The red, rough tongue of the cat slinked out of the cat's mouth and started to lap at the cool clear water.

Only moments after the cat started to drink, the sound of the crickets stopped. All was deathly silent in the acropolis, its air seeming to thicken as the silence deepened.

The cat stops drinking, its muscles rigid, and its eyes moving across the acropolis, its sensitive, keen eyes searching every corner.

There was one dark alley, one with no shops or homes, just a narrow, empty, black street that was located near the clock tower. The cats gaze stopped when it caught sight of the alley way, its gaze never wavering from the alley's ink black, still shadows.

Moments passed, and nothing moved. The cat could not look away; its instincts screamed at it that something UN touchable, something it couldn't quite see, lurked within the dark shadows of the alley.

The movement in the shadows was so silent, so sudden that it caused the cat to suddenly turn around from whence it came.

Out of the dark alley way, the shadows moved till the shape of a hooded figure was formed. It moved gracefully, as if floating toward the acropolis. It was so silent; it was as though the figure never touched the ground…like it was some ghost, or an illusion.

It came to an abrupt halt on the edge of the acropolis, liquid gold eyes shining from under the ink blackness of the hood. It observed silently, its body still like a statue.

Wind blew toward the figure, pushing at the figure's hood and causing the cloak to brush against the withered stone under its feet, and hug the front of the figures body.

The figure drew in a deep breath, as though it hadn't been breathing before that moment, and slowly exhaled. The sound of the figures sigh was like the soft, gentle fluttering of angel's wings. The figure lifted a delicate, deathly pale feminine hand, pushing the hood of the cloak back and let it fall to her shoulders.

The glow of the fountain reflected off the woman's heavenly face, casting an un-earthly glow around her face. Her long brunette hair draped around her shoulders, part of it pulled back away from her face and clipped behind with a clip with blue sapphires glittering beautifully off of her skin. Her hair, and also her somewhat rosy lips, contrasted with her pale skin. But nevertheless she was stunningly beautiful, definitely not mortal. A mortal man would have claimed that she was the most elegant woman he had ever laid eyes on, and would trade his soul to be with her…but that was exactly the price; one soul.

She stood there for a moment before slowly making her way toward the fountain. No mortal could hear her footsteps, and she moved very smoothly. When she reached the fountain, she peered over the side, staring at her reflection.

25 years…she hadn't seen him for 25 years. If she could have, she would have started to cry. Her dead heart yearned for his touch, his lips on hers, to hear his voice in her head…her memory of him was fading. The woman turned away from the pond to look up at the stars.

What if she escaped? Not that it was possible, but what if? She of course would attempt to find him. But where would he be? He couldn't possibly be in Forks, not with the werewolves. He broke the treaty when he sank his teeth into her 27 years ago. If he were to return, surely the wolves would declare war. She shuddered to think about it.

And if…no, when she found him – she refused to think if, because she knew she would one day find him, she refused to give up – would he still want her? Her lips curled downward as she contemplated this. No, he wanted her. They were mates, weren't they? And if he knew about them, he would definitely want to be with them as well…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low voice behind her. "Where are you going, Bella? It's a bit late to be taking a walk." Bella's lips curled upward, but her smile held no trace of humor.

"Calm down Felix, I wasn't going anywhere. Just enjoying the fresh air; I am allowed to do that, aren't I?" Bella turned to face him, her expression sarcastic. Felix's lip curled into a snarl.

"As long as you stay within Voltura walls, its fine." His red eyes gleamed within the glow of the fountain. He sighed and crossed to her side, looking down into the depths of the fountain water.

"We lost your children's trail in Tokyo a couple nights ago." Felix suddenly whispered. Bella was silent, not wishing to say anything. If she did, he would Imeadietly know her true feelings on the matter; she wanted them to stay away. Hopefully, they would find their father…

"For a while it seemed like they were going to return here, but they somehow managed to wind up in Tokyo. We trailed them for a couple days, and then they completely disappeared. About three months ago, it seems that another vampire joined them. At first we used him to follow them, but your son is in good control over his powers now; it seems that he can erect a barrier around his companions as well."

"I suppose he's a lot like me, then." Bella answered quietly, her tone blank and emotionless. Felix shot her a puzzled look, egging her to explain. "What I mean is none of you can use your powers against me. So I believe that my children are the same way. I believe my son is able to lend that power to any one close to him, not just companions. I don't believe it's that strong." Felix was silent, contemplating her theory.

"I suppose it makes sense…but anyhow, hopefully they'll return soon. They sure have given the Volturi the longest chase that we've ever seen. We almost catch them, and when we can practically touch them, they disappear out of nowhere. If I'm not annoyed, I must say that I am very impressed that they're avoided us this long. Ten years of running and chasing. It's like we've been playing tag, and we've been it for ten years." Felix chuckled humorlessly to himself. Bella said nothing, only stared up into the starry night sky.

"Well, Aro would like a word with you Bella, I'm sure you understand. He gets a little uncomfortable when you're not close to him, he feels like you're going to pull the same stunt your children did." Felix sighed, stepping away from the fountain and turning to head toward the dark alley way.

"Yea, I understand." Bella replied tonelessly, her eyes not leaving the glittering stars. Her thoughts were turned elsewhere. Where were her children now?

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"Liz, what time is it?" My brother whispered, nudging my side with his elbow. I shot a glare toward him.

"I don't know why don't you check for yourself? There's a clock around that corner there." I pointed down one of the hallways of the airport filled with mortals heading to the boarding gates, their baggage rolling behind them as they trotted past our small coven…not that they knew we were a coven of Vampires. To a mortal, we're just a small group of freakishly beautiful teenagers. But we aren't teenagers either.

Our coven isn't quite the regular Vampire coven. Most Vampire covens are easily broken apart, since it's mostly just for temporary companionship. But our coven is built on trust, love and friendship. Our numbers are strange as well; there are four of us.

There is my older twin brother, Jade. Often times I must wonder how in the world I got stuck with a brother like him. We're completely different; I'm a very calm, intellectual Vampire who loves the arts, such as music, acting, dancing and painting. My brother pretty much does whatever pops into his head; if he wants to play sports, he plays sports, if he wants to sing, he sings. You get the point.

Though my brother may be a bit odd at times, he's still like any other vegetarian Vampire as far as I'm concerned. He, like me and our mother before us, is immune to the powers of other Vampires. Unlike my mother and me, he can disguise any of our companions as long as they're within a five mile radius of where he is.

At times, such as now, Jade can be overly impatient. "Maybe I will go look for the clock!" Jade sarcastically exclaimed, standing up at a normal human pace, running his long pale fingers running through his thick, un-kept black hair, pushing it out of his auburn eyes. A couple mortal teenagers giggled as they walked past him, blushing furiously. I rolled my eyes. How could anyone, even mortals, who were naturally intrigued by our beauty, ever see anything in my brother? Okay, maybe if he hadn't been born as my brother, I might have said he was un-humanly beautiful. Because, truthfully, he is inhumanly beautiful. But I am his sister, and I've spent my whole life with him. Believe me, Vampire or not, he's still a guy. And those of you, who have brothers, know what I'm talking about. You love them, but they can be pains in the butt.

As my brother almost silently walked toward the hallway I had directed him down, I smelt the scent of mouse blood. I sighed as my natural instincts tried to take over my consciousness. If it had been a regular mouse, I would have gladly done so. But there were a few problems; one, I was in the middle of an airport. Two, it was Crin's kill, though I could think of no possible explanation as to WHY she would be…surrendering in the middle of an airport.

I snapped my head toward her, a low snarl rippling from my chest. "Crin, what do you think you're doing?" I whispered quickly, too low for any mortal to overhear, no matter how close they were. Crin, who had her hand curled around her mouth so she could hide the mouse, flashed me a look of annoyance.

"I want to eat something. Since I do not hunt humans anymore, I keep myself distracted with small animals. You know that." She whispered back, her voice sounding like an angel.

"Crin, we hunted just before we went into the airport. You caught the biggest buck out of all of us. How can you tell me you're hungry when it hasn't been more than an hour at the most?" I whispered back, rolling my eyes and leaning against the arm of the chair. "Besides, they're not going to let you take that on the plane. You'll get caught."

Crin pouted, but nevertheless clenched her hand and stood up, heading toward the trash can.

Crin is the oldest member of our coven. She is about 479 years old, and had been serving the Volturi for most of her life up till ten years ago, when my brother and I escaped from the Volturi. When our mom was taken into the Volturi's 'protection' – from what, they never told my mother – Crin helped her, helping her take care of us. When we separated, mom made Crin promise to protect us…as though we needed it.

Don't get me wrong, Crin's like a sister to me and all, but…she has an eating problem. When she met my mother, she was so intrigued by my mother's vegetarian diet that she 'converted' as well. Ever since she 'converted', Crin's had sort of a…habit. She loves eating, especially little animal's in-between meals.

I suppose its fine, since she never seems to have the same problems with humans as a certain member of our group seems to have …

Suddenly, that certain member's lips were at my ear, his cool breath brushing against my skin. "We're alone now." His smooth, velvet voice sounded in my ear. I breathed in slowly, turning my head to look at him. His lips caught hold of mine in an instant, softly touching them almost as though he were merely tasting.

Quickly, before my thoughts could scatter, I pulled away from him, my fingers reaching up to touch his spiky dirty blonde hair. "Not for long, Royce. Crin went to throw that mouse away, so she's heading back now, and Jade will be here in a couple seconds as well. Don't get my brother upset, please. I don't feel like having him get upset with too many people around."

Royce chuckled, kissing the tip of my nose and wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Your brother is way too protective for his own good." I smiled up at him, gazing into his rich gold eyes, forgetting to breathe for a moment – not that it mattered that I didn't breathe.

I met Royce about eight years ago off the coast of Mexico. He had only been about a hundred years old, but had been in a coven of about ten vampires, most being newborn. His creator was the leader, the one who chose the newborn vampires. When I met Jade, it felt like I had found my missing half. He stood there, and in this rich Spanish accent, said "Perdon Bonita." Meaning, "excuse me beautiful" after we had almost smacked into each other.

He had just looked so cute, being all polite and gentlemanly. His politeness is what kept me from moving on, and the color of my eyes is what kept him from moving on. He asked about why they were like that, and when I told him what life was like for my coven, he seemed so interested that he tried it out. Ever since then, he's been tagging along with our coven.

At first, my brother was completely fine with Royce. But when we started romantically seeing each other about a year ago, my brother became protective. Now my brother is basically like, "stay away from my sister or I will kill you."

Now as I look into his eyes, I can't help but think about the future. What does he have planned? Will we ever become permanent mates? Hopefully, if we ever get the chance to settle down…

"You know it's a good thing that your brother learned to expand that power of his. For a while there I thought that the Volturi was going to catch up with us. I didn't want to get you into trouble because of me." Royce said, leaning back to stare up at the ceiling. I leaned into him, sighing slightly. I just loved his voice. Though it no longer had that thick, Spanish accent, that accent still sometimes slipped into his voice, making it sound even sexier than it should have been.

"Well, they can't use you anymore, nor can they use Crin. They're going to have to track us down the old fashioned way, I guess." I answered quietly. Royce frowned, his eyebrows pulled together in a disproving manner.

"Are you saying you want them to find us again?" He asked his tone emotionless. Royce had issues with the Volturi. In one of our various…encounters with the Volturi, Royce ended up getting a bit protective – if you call punching Felix in the jaw just 'protective' – after Felix had ended up grabbing me from behind. It had been the only time the Volturi had been close to capturing one of us.

"Let's face it Royce, no matter how much protection we have, no matter how big of an advantage we have over them, they will ALWAYS find us, there is no escape until we rescue my mom." Royce's expression soured.

"Elizabeth Swan," He never called me "Liz" like my mom, brother and Crin did, not that I minded. But when he used my last name as well? Yea, that was almost always a bad thing. "What happens afterwards, huh? When you have your mom back? How do you know that they'll let us off the hook? Do you really think they'll leave us alone? Elizabeth, they will hunt us down. I don't want you to be under their care ever again." He leaned closer, his forehead resting on mine.

If I could, I would have blushed. "Of course I don't believe…that…" I was having a hard time gathering my thoughts together as his breath mingled with mine, "they'll leave us alone." I finished simply in a whisper. Royce, as though he could read my thoughts, grinned and pulled away.

"It's a good thing you're not human, or else it would be really hard to be close to you without the fear of you passing out." He joked. I smiled and shook my head.

"I don't believe there has ever been a Vampire who's tried to have a relationship with a human." I told him as Crin sat down on the other side of me, choosing to ignore our conversation to the best of her ability.

"You never know what's possible till you try it." Royce chuckled, his fingers starting to run through my thick, silky black hair…you know, we don't really have time to wear nice clothes, much less keep them from getting torn. So, I have to keep at least something looking nice, right?

Crin's hair has natural wisps and ringlets that always bob around her face – she usually wears her hair up in a pony tail. My hair is somewhat similar; except mine is black and the ends of my hair are just natural curls, not perfect ringlets.

"I've already found my true love, thank you. I don't plan to try going out with a mortal anytime…well, actually, never." I grinned, squeezing his ice cold hand. He smiled back, leaning down toward my lips…

"Royce, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Jade is coming back, and you know he won't be happy with either of you if he catches you doing that. And frankly, I don't want him to be grumpy the whole plane ride to Seattle." Crin stated her voice as cheery as ever. I glared playfully over at her for interrupting our moment.

"Well, I personally don't like seeing you making out with my brother. I could seriously do without the images." I retorted sarcastically. It was a little mean, I know, and if Jade were here, he would Imeadietly snap right back at me.

"I'll see what we can do to connivance your already scared mind." Crin piped back just as Jade came back into our line of vision; almost as though he had appeared out of nowhere in the thick crowd.

He sat down next to Crin, taking her hand in his while warily eyeing Royce's arm that was no casually draped over my shoulder...well, as casual as a gesture like that could be. I sighed and leaned into Royce's chest, and as I did so I could almost feel Jade's angry vibes shooting at me. I chose to ignore him, and instead listened to the sounds around me.

From across the hallway, a little girl dropped her ice cream cone. She started to cry, her cries echoing over the mummers of the pedestrians and the rolling of suitcases. The smells of various different foods lulled over the air, mixing together with the scents of other mortals.

Suddenly the intercom above us clicked. "Now boarding flight 1824 from date (a city in Japan) to Seattle Washington." The woman's voice was heavily accented as she spoke in English before she said the exact same thing in Japanese.

I sighed heavily, standing up and slinging my worn out green back pack over my shoulder. Royce slid his arm off my shoulder and instead grasping his hand in mine. As we headed toward the boarding gate, Crin and Jade following behind us, Royce squeezed my hand, silently communicating with me. His simple gesture meant so much to me. I squeezed back, not letting my hand relax. He grinned, squeezing back. It may seem silly, but to me, that meant he was saying he loved me. But I suppose that's what happens when your older brother is overprotective; you can't really tell each other how you feel all the time, since your brother is ALWAYS there, glaring at the backs of your head.

Stupid, protective, older brothers…

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Seattle, Washington

We stepped down the stairs, our sneakers making no sound as we stepped onto the blacktop. We weaved through the civilians around us, making our way toward the stairs. Royce fidgeted nervously as another plane landed a little ways off, its deafening roar filling our sensitive ears.

We climbed the stairs faster than the other mortals did, yet we still went at a considerable mortal speed. Without pausing at the top of the stairs, we started up the hallway toward the Seattle air port.

"Where are we going now?" Crin asked from behind me. I said nothing, hoping that Jade knew where we were going. Though I was a bit more responsible than Jade was, he was still considered the leader of our Coven.

"I'm not sure yet actually. All I know is that we're going north…I don't know for how long, or where exactly…but we're going to stay near the coast for as long as possible." Jade answered, his voice informative, meaning he was addressing all of us, not just Crin.

"Are we going to stay the night here in Seattle? There are some good forests around it, and it's a major city, so if anyone came looking for us…" Royce asked, his voice not higher than a whisper as we stepped into the airport, bunching together so we could keep track of each other. No, not for that reason; there was something in the air that made us feel…on edge. That was why Royce had asked. Something ominous was lurking in the shadows of Seattle; I wasn't sure where, but it was here…no, not it, I realized as I threw a glance back at Royce's expression. Hatred danced in his eyes, his lips were curled into a small snarl.

THEY were here. The Volturi, I mean. They were here, lurking in the shadows, waiting for us. My eyes darted around, my guard up, my muscles tensed, ready to spring. The mortals wouldn't notice…if they did notice, they would think we were a mere dream…the funny things that mortals will come up with after seeing something that couldn't be explained; such as a group of teenagers in ragged clothes walking down the hallways together, and then suddenly disappearing.

But what did that matter? If we were going to get into trouble with the Volturi, we couldn't do it in the middle of the Seattle airport. But a better question; HOW, and Why did they know where to find us?

We soon saw the entrance in sight…but it seemed so far away at a mortal speed…it felt like it was too far. I longed to run, but for some odd reason my feet wouldn't move faster…

As we weaved past civilians gracefully, it was then that I caught sight off them. There were only two; the regular size group that they sent after us, but still, just two of them was enough to make me edgy. "Jade, Crin, Royce…over there…" I whispered, too low for human ears.

"Yea, I know. They probably know were we are as well…" Jade whispered back. "Crin, what should we do?" Crin, a former member of the Volturi, was often given command whenever we were up against another member of the Volturi.

"Run." She whispered. We didn't need more than that to suddenly speed off as soon as there was an opening in the crowd.

We reached the doors in no time, all of us just barley moving around a civilian and through the open door. We weaved through the crowd; cold, wet wind blowing in our face as everything but the front of us suddenly grew blurry. But we were still alert; we knew they were on our tail, following us…hunting us.

"We can probably loose them easily if we speed up and head through traffic…" Crin said calmly. To a mortal, his voice would have been drowned out, but to us we heard it clear as a day.

We nodded and sharply turned, heading toward the free way. I was the fastest in our group, so naturally I was a little bit ahead of my coven. I cast a glance behind me to make sure we were still together. Crin's face was calm and blank, Jade's was as tense as mine probably was, but Royce….the look was so painful that I nearly slowed down to talk to him…but then I remembered that we were on the run, trying not to get captured again…we were playing hide and go seek with the Volturi, and there was no safe base.

We leapt into traffic, leaping over cars, never once slowing down. Cars speed at us, but we were too quick for them…quick enough that we were nearly invisible to them.

We reached the other side of the road, the light drizzle that had been in the air now turned to a heavy rain, pelting against our bodies and making sight almost impossible. The dilemma made us slow down a bit, but we still kept going, afraid that if we stopped, we would end up getting caught.

"Hey Crin, I have an idea…its risky, but its good." Royce suddenly piped up, his voice was sullen. We slowed to a stop in a park…no one was around. In the distance, a swing creaked in the wind, leaves brushing across the ground. We all stared at him. I carefully kept my expression calm as I stared at his carefully emotionless face.

"What is it Royce?" Crin asked her voice not as cheery as before.

Royce glanced at me before speaking again. "Before Jade learned to cover our existence, the Volturi were using me to track us," He started slowly. I swallowed, my breathing becoming quicker as I realized what he was trying to suggest. "I feel that it is best if…we split up for the time being."

We were silent. I could feel that my expression was no longer calm, and though I tried to fix it, it simply would not become calm. "What do you mean by that Royce? They used Crin as well." Jade asked, his tone hard to describe, like he himself wasn't sure how he was feeling about loosing part of his coven.

"I mean, you three go north, while I lead them away." Royce sighed, closing his eyes.

Jade and Crin were silent. I couldn't contain myself much longer. My voice shook as I tried to keep him there by my side. "Royce, that's preposterous! How could such a plan like that work? It…it's foolish! Insane!" I looked to Crin, her face sullen. "Tell him he's wrong Crin; tell him he needs to stay with us!"

Crin looked at me, and it was then that I knew. She agreed. And when she agreed, it usually meant that it was final. But I couldn't give up. I looked at my brother, my eyes pleading with him. "Please Jade, please! Tell him; tell him he has to stay!" Jade closed his eyes and bit his lip lightly.

"Liz, I'm sorry but, I have to agree with Crin and Royce…this may be a good chance for us to get some time to escape…They will know that something is fishy, but…they'll still go after him. They won't know where we are, so they'll go after him. He will be their best bet." Jade answered.

I stared at him, my mouth dropped open. I looked at Crin, but she said nothing and continued to stare at the muddy ground under our feet.

I looked at Royce. "Royce, please…don't go!" I pleaded my voice below a whisper. Royce sighed and looked into my eyes.

"Royce," Jade cut in, "This may be the right thing, but do you really want to go? We can still run and continue on together, we won't suffer from it. But do you want to go?"

I stared at Royce, and he stared at me. I probably looked pretty pathetic…well, as pathetic as a vampire could look, but I didn't care. He stared back at me, his emotionless mask still there.

"Yes, I want to go." He answered finally, not looking away from me. If I had been born with a beating heart, my heart would have died right then.

"Please…no, don't leave!" I whispered again. But Royce shook his head, stepping toward me. He wrapped his arms around me, his grip on my waist tight. The hug scarred me; it was as though he thought we wouldn't see each other for a very long time.

"I promise I will find you, I will come back, Bonita. I love you." He pulled away and leaned down, his lips caressing mine. His kiss did not scare me, only made me want to never let go. I wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.

He kissed me back, but after a few seconds, Crin said "Royce, you better get going; they'll be here in a couple minutes." Royce let go of me, and instead pushed me away, untangling my arms from around his neck.

"Royce, please…" I whispered. If I was mortal, I would have been bawling my eyes out. But I wasn't.

"I'll see you soon, Elizabeth." He replied a little louder, turning away from me and dashing out of my sight. For a moment I stood there, the rain drenching my clothes to my body. I didn't care. I didn't care that my hair was completely ruined, or that the items in my bag was as drenched as my clothes were. All I cared about was that he was gone.

"Liz, lets go, they'll be here any moment now!" My brother whispered his voice gentle. He was probably trying to put himself in my situation. What would he have done if Crin had suggested that? Would he have let her go?

I turned to look at them. They were trying not to look at me, trying not to let me see their pity. It didn't matter. I looked behind me, hoping that Royce would be standing there, a smile on his face.

He wasn't of course.

I sucked in a deep breath, not realizing that I hadn't been breathing, and turned back to what was left of my torn apart Coven.

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I really wasn't planning on writting a story for Twilight. I usually write stories for anime series, and though I had ideas for Twilight fanfictions, they didn't make me want to jump onto the computer and write them down. But when my mom said, "Alice, when are you going to write Twilight fanfictions?" I said, "I don't know, probably never." I was serious. But then suddenly the idea for this story popped into my mind and...well, I couldn't resist. So here we are. "Vita Per Sempre" is an Italian name meaning "Life forever". I asked my friend...no, thats not a good term for him...my brother what I should name it. So I give the credit to him. I also give credit to him for comming up with the name "Jade." I didn't know what to name the older brother, and none of the names I got from other firends quite fit his personality. So this story will be in Elizabeth's point of veiw, since I didn't want to do it in point of veiws from characters we already know. I think it will be fun to get to know new characters.

Well, did you like? REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alice


	2. Chapter 2

Angoon, Alaska

The wind blew across the meadow, the tall grass dancing in the wind and the multi-colored leaves kicked up into the fresh breeze that rolled in from the sea only to land a few yards away, tangled in the thick grass.

Lining the meadow tall pine trees packed close together with pine cones scattered beneath their branches. Squirrels dart up trees; birds sing happily as they look for food for the upcoming winter, a doe springs gracefully into the meadow to graze.

A small stream runs through the meadow, running quickly over small rocks that lie within its bed. Small little fish swim down stream peacefully, occasionally stopping to observe their surroundings.

On the other side of the stream there is a large, white Victorian styled home. A large old willow is rooted to the side of the house, a little tree house nestled into its branches with a rope ladder hanging down from it, swinging with the wind and hitting the base of the trunk. A white little porch in the front of the house welcomes all those who dare to approach the house. A porch swing creeks to the far left of the porch, yard plants hang from the ceiling, their plants' leaves falling over the sides.

To a visitor – not that there would be a visitor who would venture a mile away from the small little Alaskan town of Angoon just to see the meadow and the house – the house may seem deserted. But in truth, it's far more occupied than they realize.

A coven of seven Vampires take residence there.

A pixie like Vampire suddenly appears in front of the house, taking only but a moment to open the front door and step inside. The inside of the home is spacious and homely. A black grand piano is stuffed in the corner, looking as though no one had touched it for years. Exotic furniture, looking like people actually did use them, were neatly arranged in a homely fashion. There was a glass coffee table in-between couch with a rug underneath. The floor was wooden, and even the Vampire's graceful steps echoed slightly on the wood.

She lightly stepped up the steps, and within no time she had turned at the top of the stairs and started heading down a long hallway. The house was completely silent, though it was occupied with all seven vampires.

At the very end of the hallway, there was a door. The little Vampire walked right up to it, and knocked softly. There was no answer. She sighed, the sound sounding like a whisper of the wind. She grabbed the handle and opened the door, not caring that she may have been intruding on the occupant's activities.

She softly closed the door behind her, and walked across the room to the curtains. She whipped open the curtains, soft light from the gray sky drifting into the room.

"Close the curtains Alice." Another vampire, lying completely still on the leather couch in the corner next to the window growled. His eyes were closed and his arms were behind his head.

"Edward, enough mopping around, you need to go hunting; you haven't gone in a while." Edward sighed and sat up, swinging his legs over the couch and onto the floor, his auburn hair falling into his black eyes. He rubbed his temples as though he had a headache, and a snarl curled over his lips, showing off his perfect teeth.

"Not now Alice, not now." He growled, wishing to be left alone.

_You know Edward; I don't think you realize how close I am to smacking you…_ Alice thought, her gaze hardening. Edward chuckled a bit.

"I'm sure you're not the only one who feels that way." Edward answered, surveying his bedroom. In the corner opposite of him was his radio and his CD's, all untouched and dusty. On the same side of the room, next to his couch, was the bed, also dusty and untouched. The floor looked like it hadn't been swept in years…which were actually true. It looked like a place where a Hollywood style Vampire would actually live.

_Edward, you can't keep living this way. Ever since Bella left…_ Edward growled fiercely, glaring at Alice. Alice didn't flinch, but waited for him to say something.

"Bella did not leave me because she wanted to Alice." Edward spat, "If the rest of the family would let me go search for her, I would, and I wouldn't stop till I found her!"

Alice frowned. "Edward, we searched for her for seven years! We can't keep searching any longer; it's out of our hands now. If Bella comes back, she comes back. We'll welcome her with open arms if she decides to stay. I may not be able to see her, but I know this; she wouldn't want you to starve yourself for long periods of time."

"It's not out of our hands! We can still find her! I can still find her! I know she's waiting for me to come, I know it!" Edward protested, standing up, his jaw tightened with anger.

Alice was about to say something, when all of a sudden her gaze became out of focus as she stared at Edward, her mouth shutting Imeadietly.

Edward, a little annoyed, listened to her vision. There were three Vampires; two girls and one boy. The boy and one girl looked very much alike, both with thick black hair. The girl next to the boy skipped happily, whistling as though she was in la-la land…she probably was. Her dark brown ringlets bobbed around her face as she suddenly leaped upon the boy, kissing his cheek. The girl who had the black hair had eyes that held sadness as she watched the boy laugh and kiss the bouncy vampire on the lips before they walked out into the meadow where the Cullen's resided.

The vision ended and Alice gave Edward a bewildered look. "Are they from the Volturi?" Edward asked quietly, a little bewildered him self. What did the three Vampires have to do with the subject they'd been on earlier?

"No, I don't think so. They would be wearing some sort of cloak if they were, and the one girl wouldn't have been acting so playful. No, there is something different about the two black haired Vampires…this isn't the first time I've had a vision about those two. Last time I had a vision, they were coming to Seattle. It's so strange…every time I have a vision of them, it always happens when I'm thinking about Bella. But what does it have to do with her?" Alice asked, mostly to herself.

Edward was silent for a while. "Nothing, it has nothing to do with Bella." He finally answered. Alice looked at him sharply.

"Edward, maybe…maybe they're the answer to finding…" Alice started to suggest, but Edward glared at her.

"No, I highly doubt they know where she is…and even if they did, how do we know that she's still there? I'll find her on my own, not from some random strangers." Edward cut her off. "Look, if it will make you leave me alone, I'll go hunting…ALONE. And don't worry, I won't run off. There's no point if you'll only tell the family and come after me…plus, I wouldn't want to worry Esme." Edward turned away from Alice and dashed from the room, not bothering to shut the door behind him. A millisecond later the front door slammed shut downstairs.

Alice stood there in his room, staring out the window at the beautiful scenery. In the distance the ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see. Alice bit her lip slightly. She couldn't help but feel that these new Vampires did indeed share some sort of connection with Bella…but how?

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The gigantic polar bear rose up on its hind paws, roaring mightily as it swiped its white wet paw at me. I jumped out of the way, landing a few feet away in a crouched position, my black eyes studding the movement of the bear and its cub backed against the cliff wall by our broken coven – I refused to think of my coven as whole till Royce came back.

Crin had her black gaze on the cub that cowered against the rocks, whimpering as the bigger bear tried to fight us off in vain. The cub, though not fully grown, was big enough that it would keep a Vampire satisfied for about a week and a half…but with Crin's 'snacks', it really didn't matter. If we ever had the chance to settle down, we wouldn't ever have rodent problems on account of Crin's hunting habits.

Jade could see that Crin wanted the baby cub just as well as I could. Slowly he stepped forward enough so that the large bear would direct its perturbed gaze at him instead of me. A low warning growl rippled from the bear as it touched back down on all fours, crouched as though it was ready to spring at my brother. Crin tensed, her eyes narrowing upon the cub, waiting for the right moment to spring…

Suddenly the polar bear lunged at my brother, its long sharp claws trying to reach my brother to rip him to shreds…not that it knew it couldn't even if it did end up getting a hold of my brother, but still. The bear's lunge left the cub wide open for Crin's attack, to which she immediately took advantage of. Within seconds Crin was throttling the cub, her lips at its neck as though she were about to give it a kiss. Her hands twisted as soon as they grasped hold of the bear's neck, snapping it like a twig.

The snap stopped the bear in its tracks. Though the cub hadn't had time to squeal in fright, the sound of its neck snapping turned the bear's anger against Crin. The bear whirled around, roaring as it suddenly started to charge the other way toward Crin.

My instincts kicked in, and within seconds I had jumped between the bear and Crin, my eyes watching as the bear stopped in its tracks and stood again on its hind legs. This was any mortal's nightmare; to be in between a mother bear and her cub. Thankfully I was bear-attack proofed, as I liked to call it. If I bear tried to attack me or any other Vampire, it would be like mauling a moveable rock.

The bear raised its paw to knock me out of the way, but as it did, Jade had leaped upon its back. The bear froze with shock for a brief moment and Jade's pale fingers grabbed a hold of the bear's jaws. The bear shook its head, stumbling backwards as it tried to get Jade off its back unsuccessfully. Jade's cool fingers grasped the bear's jaws, forcing them open. The bear started trying to chew Jade's fingers off, but did so unsuccessfully. Jade's grip was tight; drool dribbled from the bear's mouth, oozing onto Jade's hands.

Suddenly with one quick jerk to the side, the bear's neck snapped. I moved to the side as its lifeless body slumped to the ground with a sickening thud. Jade still straddled the bear's body, his ear pressed up against the bears back, completely motionless.

"Jade, you can let go of the bear, it's obviously dead." I stated, my eyebrows rising. Jade still lay there on top of the bear, till slowly he rose to stare down at the bear.

"Yea, I know, I just…I don't know. I just can't help but think about the bear's life, you know? It didn't have to be eaten by a Vampire…" He whispered, running his fingers through the polar bears matted fur. I was silent as I listened to his speech, the same exact speech he gave almost every time he killed any animal that may be remotely endangered.

"Jade there wasn't anything else; it's just the way nature works. You know that. It's the same for humans and the average Vampire. The Vampire needs food, and the human happens to be the only thing he can eat. I'm not saying its right, but isn't this better than killing a human?" I asked, kneeling down and placing a comforting hand upon his shoulder. Jade relaxed a little under my touch, turning his head to smile at me warmly.

"I know sis." He whispered, placing his own hand upon mine, squeezing it lightly before he leaned forward, and his lips pressing against the bear's neck. Slowly the scent of blood trickled into the air. The smell grew stronger as Crin too started to drink the blood of the cub. Jade had only sucked a bit from the adult before he pulled himself away and looked up at me. "As you said, there isn't anything edible around besides squirrels…"

Suddenly Crin piped up, "YAY SQUIRRELS!" Jade and I both rolled out eyes before Jade continued on. "As I was saying, you might as well just share the adult with me. There's enough for the both of us."

Here's the thing about Jade and I; Jade and I are unique, not only because we were born from a Vampire mother and have never tasted a sense of humanity, but we eat much like humans do. Though our diet consists of animal blood, we are not tempted by human blood and when we drink blood, it's not always on our mind. We can have a decent conversation with each other while eating just like humans do. Because of this, he and I can share our meals if it's big enough.

I smiled at my brother, grabbing hold of the bear's heavy paw and raising it to my rosy lips, my teeth sinking into its skin…

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We ran across the cold Alaskan terrain, heading where I have no clue. That's what our lives seemed to be; running to who knows where; just as long as we were away from Volturi hands. It was starting to snow, and the flakes blew into our faces as we ran, using our Vampire enhanced vision to make out the road that was slowly being devoured by the snow.

"Maybe we should camp out Jade!" I called over the sound of the whirling wind to my brother who ran a bit ahead of me along with Crin. She looked like a flying angel floating in the icy wind. Her ringlets were filled with snowflakes, and her clothes, though wet, hugged her curves perfectly.

Jade started to slow down a bit. "Yes, that's a good idea actually." Jade commented. "We're not in an area where there is plenty of shelter, so we'll just have to deal. Not like we can feel it anyways." Jade slowly stopped as did Crin and I. We stood there on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, looking at each other expectantly, and waiting for the other to say something.

"Well, I'm just going to sit down…" I stated, sitting down in the snow. I was already wet, so it didn't matter now if I sat in the snow. The snow was only a few degrees cooler than a Vampire's body, so the cold didn't affect me at all.

Jade and Crin sat down next to me, each of us waiting for the storm to be over. "Where are we Jade?" Crin asked after a moment's silence.

"We should be coming up on a small little town by tomorrow. We're not going to be passing through any big cities in Alaska, it's mostly going to be snow, snow, forest, and more snow. Alaska is no theme park, that's for sure….but there will be enough game for us to feed off of." Jade answered his amber gaze upon Crin's. I bit my lip lightly and looked away, my stomach tightening as though if I watched them any more I was seriously going to throw up for the first time in my life.

The way my brother looked at Crin, it reminded me of the way Royce looked at me when Jade wasn't around…and even when he was around. It was full of love, faithfulness, and it made it clear that Jade was in love with Crin.

I had heard from Royce since he had left. Or broken coven had one cell phone that was only used for extreme emergencies. Royce called about twice since he left. The first time was to tell me that he was sorry for leaving so suddenly. I of course told him not to worry about it, but I don't think he listened. He promised me he'd come back as soon as he could.

The second time he had called from a pay phone in Forks Washington. That message wasn't just for me, but the rest of our broken coven as well. He informed us that there were tons of Volturi members lurking in the shadows. A couple had tried to catch him, but as soon as he neared the beach, they stopped. He had said he was going to try to slip away and keep going, and that he'd call as soon as he could.

His last phone call had been a week ago.

I tried not to let my worries show, but when we were silent, as we usually were, I couldn't help but think about them. I tried to calm my worries by reassuring myself that he was fine, that he just hadn't had the time to call…

Often times I heard Crin whispering to Jade, saying things like, "Maybe you shouldn't have let him go Jade….You know how upset she was when she was forced to separate from her mother…" Jade would always sigh and agree with her, but he knew as well as I did that it was too late. If Royce were to come back, the Volturi would follow him. The only way we would be able to meet up with Royce again was the meet up with him when he wasn't being suffocated by the Volturi and leave quickly.

It must have been pretty obvious that I was thinking about him, since Crin suddenly placed her hand on my shoulder, rubbing it gently. "Liz, calm down, I'm sure he's fine! Royce isn't some silly newborn who doesn't know what he's doing; he'll be fine." She smiled and looked at Jade for a second before turning back to me. "Besides, we've still got each other, right? As long as he's out there, as long as we three stick together, there is still hope." Her grip tightened to emphasize her point.

"She's right Liz." Jade smiled at me as well, reaching out to grasp my hand. I looked at Crin and he, emotions boiling inside of me; I was grateful to have my brother and his mate – and childhood friend—with me, I was hopeful that Royce would return unharmed, even though the unharmed part was pretty likely on account of the whole Vampire thing, and I felt love for my broken coven. Somehow I left that something, I didn't know what, but something new was going to enter my 'life' very soon…I didn't know if the rest of my companions had the same feeling, but I knew that this time I wasn't going as crazy as my brother would have claimed if I had told him my feelings.

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**The next morning in Angoon forest**

We ran on the forest path, toward what, as usual I wasn't sure. The path wasn't clearly marked, but the plants had been bulldozed down by cars, and the tree branches had been cut out of the way, making it so that we didn't have to worry about branches smacking into our face as we ran. We hadn't quite reached the little town, but the scent of the ocean breeze drifted toward us as well as the smell of mortals and…something quite familiar…

"Do you smell that?" Jade suddenly started to slow down, and just as he did Crin leaped upon him, kissing his cheek playfully.

"Yup, there's another Vampire, maybe more than one close by." Crin giggled as though that were no big deal. Jade and I exchanged glances.

"Um…Crin, I'm not so sure that that's such a casual matter if these Vampire's are…a threat." I whispered, turning my back on my broken coven but stepping backwards toward them.

"It's not like we don't deal with those anyways…" Crin muttered as she too turned her back against the group, backing up till her shoulder touched mine. Jade did the same, backing up till his shoulder's touched both mine and Crin's shoulders, linking us in a small little triangular circle, all of us crouching, our eyes drafting and searching through the trees.

The other Vampires were as aware of us as we were of them. But that wasn't the frightening part; _**they surrounded us.**_

I still couldn't tell how many there were, but for sure they had enough that they could surround us. Jade and I were both tense, yet Crin stayed calm, humming lowly to herself. Crin usually had more cool in desperate situations than Jade and I did…even Royce had a bit more composure than we did.

"We know your there; come out and show yourselves if you have no offensive intentions." Jade suddenly called. Crin and I both whirled around to stare at him with bewildered stares. Was he insane? WHAT WAS HE DOING? I KNEW IT; he HAD gotten hit in the head at birth or something! Obviously Crin agreed, since she elbowed him and growled in disproval.

"Keep watch, I know what I'm doing." Jade whispered too low for a mortal to hear. I couldn't tell if the other Vampires had heard him whisper that to us, but either way he did NOT have control over the situation.

Nevertheless, I did as my brother told me to, deciding to humor his crazy actions. I watched carefully through the trees, my eyes narrowed, waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly there was movement. Slowly, out of the shadows, a stunningly beautiful blonde female Vampire stepped out, staring at me with amber eyes. "Brother…" I whispered, looking back behind me. Jade had straightened up, his mouth dropped open. Crin had done the same, except she whispered, "oh my…"

I straightened up as well, looking around us. What I saw made me stop breathing.

We were surrounded by six Vampires, all staring at us with golden eyes.

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**Man that took longer than I had origionally antisipated... but hey, it's done now, right? You probably all have questions, and i'd be happy to answer them to an extent. **

**Writergirl6- r they going to meet the Cullens in Forks?**

**answer; Obviously not as seen in this chapter. This is because Edward changed Bella, and when he did that he was breaking the treaty. If the Cullen's were to return to Forks, the werewolves would declare war. Now, I know I'm including at least one werewolf in the future chapters, but I don't know when just yet. **

**Writergirl6- Does Jade look anything like Bella/Edward? Liz obviously doesn't. -pout- **

**Answer; haha, true, Liz isn't like Edward or Bella in looks, but she is much like Edward. Her jaw tightens when she's angry, she often believes that she must make an unessesary choice to keep her family safe, she is curious and is very intellegent and strong willed. Now Jade is Liz's older twin, and he can be a lot like his mother; quiet, not as outspoken...but he's a lot like Renee. He pretty much does whatever he wants to do; if he feels like singing, he sings, if he wants to run, he runs. He has leadership qualities and for that reason his Coven looks up to him, though half of them are older than he is. You will see later that Jade and Liz will work together, you sort of saw it with the hunting of the Polar Bear in this chapter. Both sibblings are musical like their father, which you will see later. **

**But man, I love writting this fanfiction. I'll update as soon as possible, especially since Holiday break is comming up, i have a ton of writting time! WOOT!**

**Alice**

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

I forced myself to breathe in slowly, trying to calm my scattered nerves down. Every muscle in my body was tensed, ready to bolt if the Vampire's intentions were hostile. They stared at us, waiting for one of us to speak up. I glanced at my brother, but he was still having trouble with the fact that we were surrounded by six Vampires.

After what seemed like eternity, a tall blonde Vampire stepped forward, a small smile spread across his handsome, pale features. He looked like he was still in his early twenties, but he was probably much older than that. As he moved, his slender yet muscular built tensed, as though he too were trying to figure out if we were hostile.

"Good morning, my name is Carlisle; I am a doctor down in Angoon." The Vampire, Carlisle greeted. His voice was kind and friendly, not something you usually came across when you met Vampires from other covens.

Jade hesitated, but slowly took a step toward Carlisle. The other member's of Carlisle's coven Imeadietly watched Jade, watching for a hostile move. "Uh…good morning, my name is Jade, and this is my mate Crin and my twin sister Elizabeth, though most people call her Liz." Jade replied, trying to disguise his emotions.

Carlisle smiled warmly at us. "Welcome to our home." Crin and I exchanged startled glances; never before had a Vampire welcomed us so warmly. Was it even possible? Carlisle suddenly pointed at the female Vampire closest to him. "This is my wife, Esme."

I looked at Esme. She smiled a warm, mother-like smile at us that made my heart ache in longing. Her Carmel colored wavy hair draped over her shoulders, framing her heart-shaped face and her golden eyes that held such a warm expression that I couldn't help but think of my own mother. I tried to smile back to hide my anguish but I don't think I did a very good job, since Esme's smile faded a bit and confusion leaked into her expression. I averted my eyes and paid attention to Carlisle.

"Our adoptive daughter Rosalie," He pointed at the blonde that I had first spotted moments before, "And Alice." He pointed to the small pixie-like Vampire in front of Crin.

Rosalie nodded her head, her wavy blonde hair falling over her golden eyes. Jade, who had turned to see who Carlisle was pointing at, hesitated on Rosalie. It was true that Rosalie was exceptionally beautiful for a Vampire, but I had a good feeling that Jade wouldn't leave Crin for some Vampire chick he had just met.

Alice, as I said, was tiny and delicate looking. Unlike the other Vampires in her coven, her eyes were butterscotch. Her ink black hair was cropped short with spikes all over in a pixie cut, adding to her pixie-like appearance. She had a knowing smile on her face, as if she already knew who we were…

"Over here are two of my three adoptive sons, Jasper and Emmett." Carlisle introduced the last two Vampires.

Jasper seemed quiet and reserved. His lean, muscular figure was relaxed as though he frankly didn't care if we were friends or not, which made me edgy. His honey-blonde hair fell into his eyes casually as he nodded his head to acknowledge that he was aware of our presence.

Emmett grinned from ear to ear, his dimples giving him a child-like appearance, though he was hardly a child; he was the largest of the coven. His hair was a curly dark brown, and his eyes held innocence, not something Vampires usually had.

"You said that there was one more?" I hesitantly asked, knowing that my brother and Crin probably had that on their minds as well. How could a coven get so big? Two or three was usually the average number of Vampires in an average coven…but SEVEN?

Carlisle's smile faltered a bit before he answered. "Yes…there's one more. Edward is…not as sociable as he used to be." Carlisle tried to choose his words carefully, but Emmett snorted, giving away that there was more to it than what Carlisle was letting on.

"Ah, I see, because you know, Vampire's are usually sociable with every one they meet. They love to invite mortal's over for dinner all the time, you know?" I sarcastically remarked before I could stop myself. Jade whirled around while I was saying it, and glared at me. Crin still held her composure but didn't look at me; her eyes stayed fixed on Carlisle.

I waited dreadfully for the reactions of the Vampire's around us. It wasn't smart to pick a fight with a larger coven, but I couldn't help teasing them a bit…hopefully that hadn't been a wrong move to make.

The reaction of the Vampire's around us surprised me. They started to laugh after a moment of bewildered silence. "Yes, you have a point." Carlisle chuckled as the laughter was starting to die down. "Why don't you stay with us in our home for a while? You can clean yourselves up if you wish, and we can talk about the reason why you're traveling up here. Most Vampires stay away from big covens like ours." Carlisle invited warmly.

The idea of them living in a house stunned us into silence. They lived somewhere? The only other group of Vampires that I knew had a place to stay permanently was the Volturi…

I glanced at Jade, who said nothing, only stared blankly at Carlisle. "How do we know that this isn't a trap?" I whispered silently to him, mentally hoping that the other Vampire's didn't overhear…which wasn't a very good chance. If they had overheard, they're expressions didn't change. They must have had a lot of practice.

Jade didn't answer but only shrugged in response. "We would be delighted to stay for a while." Jade answered Carlisle. I fought the urge to kick him for not discussing the matter with us before answering; for all we knew, we could have been walking into a trap…one that would send us back to the hands of the Volturi…

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The room-temperature thick blue liquid oozed over my ice-cold fingers from accidentally overfilling the cup with Tide and pouring it into the washing machine that held my broken coven's dirty ragged clothing. I wore Rosalie's white robe securely over my body as I waited for Crin to be done with the shower, which was sort of discomforting considering that if the men had wanted to, they could have been…peeping…

I Imeadietly cringed away from the thought of peeping toms and concentrated on bigger matters. The biggest matter was the fact that we were residing in a house full of seven vampires, all older and more experienced as far as we were concerned. Jade was taking a shower in Jasper's bathroom, Crin was in Alice's shower, Emmett and Rosalie were in the game room playing some sort of board game, and I didn't want to ask Rosalie if I could use her bathroom…for some odd reason my instincts were telling me to stay clear of her as best as I could.

I bit my lip nervously as I dashed into Alice's room as quickly as possible, my hands gripping the robe to make sure everything stayed covered up. As soon as I stepped into Alice's room, I slammed the door behind me, leaning against it and letting out a slow, relaxed breath. "Hey Liz, I'm in the closet looking for an outfit for Crin. Hold on just a second, alright? By the way, what's your size?" Alice's angelic voice called out from the walk-in closet.

"Um…I don't really know…" I answered truthfully. I was certainly taller than she and Crin, but I hadn't ever really noticed the sizes before…I had usually just randomly grabbed clothes that looked like they would fit and wore those…

"Well, you look Rosalie's size; I'll have to see if she has anything that would look good on you." Alice sighed softly as she walked out of the closet with an outfit that I wasn't sure if Crin would like. Crin could be a mystery when it came to clothes…

Alice and I were silent, neither of us looking at each other. Alice inspected the outfit she had chosen, and I took the chance to observe her spacious room.

Alice's bed was beautifully decorated; it was a king sized canopy bed with thick red curtains and a cherry wood boarder. The Cherry wood was hand carved and polished, the sheets were a wine color with gold embroidery. The walls were a color of rich Merlot wine…it almost looked blood red. Overall, the room looked like an artist had arranged it, not a pixie-like Vampire.

"It's not often that a Vampire has a bed." I commented before I could stop myself. Alice looked at me with surprise. It was almost as if she had forgotten my presence.

"Oh…yes, well it's mostly for show but it has its other uses." Alice smiled. "Plus, its nice to lay down on…just because we can't sleep doesn't mean we can't enjoy the comfort of a nice soft bed, right?" I nodded, though I still wasn't sure if I really understood what she was saying.

It was that moment that the door to the bathroom burst open. Crin had her hair up, her natural ringlets bouncing around her face as she strode at human speed over to the bed, her golden eyes looking at the outfit that Alice had picked out. "What do you think?" Alice asked, grinning proudly.

Crin sighed and shook her head. "It's cute but…not my style. It's too…casual." Alice stopped smiling and looked back down at her outfit.

"I didn't see us dressing formally…" Alice muttered under her breath. My eyebrows rose in question, but I said nothing.

Crin looked up at the canopy's curtains, reaching out to feel its texture with her fingers. "No, that's not the right texture." She whispered to herself before she started to walk out of Alice's room.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked, reaching out to stop her, but Crin moved just out of my reach. I debated on going after her, but Alice's sudden giggling stopped me.

"Crin, why don't you check Edward's room?" Alice asked through furious giggles. I looked at her strangely. Carlisle had mentioned Edward's name when we first met, and frankly Edward didn't seem like a very…friendly Vampire... well at least not as friendly as the other member's of his coven. There was probably a reason why, and part of me wanted to know the reason, but that didn't mean I was going to go charging into his room to ask him. And yet Alice had just suggested that Crin go look for whatever she was looking for in his room.

One thing was for sure; the Cullen's were definitely unordinary.

"Oh, and you might want to use these." Alice reached into her nightstand's drawer and pulled out some scissors. Crin smiled brightly and took them, thanking Alice before dashing toward the room on the other side of the hallway. How she knew where Edward's room was, I had no clue…frankly I didn't want to know.

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IN EDWARD'S ROOM!

Edward sat on his couch, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He could smell the new Vampire's scents, but he couldn't hear any of their thoughts. He couldn't even hear the thoughts of his other family members…it was like his powers had been taken from him as soon as the visiting Vampires had walked through the door!

Edward groaned irritably, his hands running through his hair with frustration. He knew he would have to meet them; Carlisle would be upset if he didn't…but at the same time he had no wish to meet these intruders…

Edward's sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of footsteps quickly headed to his room, and the scent of one of the female Vampire's registered within his mind. Edward sighed and glared at the door, waiting for the Vampire to intrude. The door banged open a millisecond later, and a female Vampire wearing Alice's white robe and with cured dark brown ringlets bobbing around her head stared in. Her expression was blank for a moment, but it quickly changed into a look of delight. "Those are perfect!" She cried out, walking into the room.

Edward couldn't help but grow irritated with his intruder. "And just what do you think you're…?" He started, but the Vampire wasn't listening. Instead, she grabbed his curtains, whipped out fabric scissors, and started to cut his curtains furiously. "HEY WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU…?" Edward jumped up and reached out to stop the obviously insane Vampire, but she stopped and turned her head to glare at him, a glare that frightened even him.

"**DON'T. TOUCH. ME." **The Vampire hissed through bared teeth. Edward hesitated, pulling his hand away from the Vampire. She glared at him for a couple moments more before she finished her furious cutting. "There, I'm finished." She grinned happily, turning her heel and striding dramatically to Edward's front door. Her sudden change in mood surprised Edward even more. Edward did nothing but watch as the Vampire paused at the entrance and turned to look over her shoulder, her smile radiant. "Besides, you need to stop being so emo, let some light into your room. You've got a wonderful view of the beach."

She turned away and dashed at Vampire speed back into Alice's room, leaving a confused Edward standing by his window, light from the dull grey winter sky illuminating the room.

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I turned off the blow dryer and set it back where I had found it on the black granite countertop of Alice's bathroom. I sighed and peered at myself in the mirror, my fingers playing with my soft, curled black ends. I smiled with satisfaction; I hadn't looked this way since…I couldn't remember. It wasn't often that we had time to stop to make ourselves look good. And I looked even better with the little make-up I had applied; mascara to my eye lashes which made my almond-shaped golden eyes stand out a bit more than usual, I had applied a little blush, but not enough to look stupid against my ridiculously pale skin, and a little lip gloss.

I smiled brightly, my teeth gleaming in the florescent light, and tossed my hair dramatically. The door opened behind me suddenly while I was in mid-flip, and Crin's laughter filled the bathroom. "You always did like dressing up…you used to try to get Jade to play dress up with you as a child, but he…"

"But he would always complain and tell me it was for sissies, yes I remember clearly. And then you would play with me and that would make him mad, so he would join in." I finished for her. Even when Jade was little, he would always want to be around Crin, and would get jealous when she played with me instead of him. It was because of this weakness that I was able to sucker him into the games that I wanted to play.

I turned and looked at Crin. She wore a red frilly dress that she had probably made, since Alice hadn't had anything like that in her closet. The stitching on the dress was perfect, as well as the detail. She wore Alice's red high heals, making and her hair was put up in a red bow. "Nice outfit, but don't you think it's a bit too...red?" I asked her. Crin shook her head.

"No, its fine. Do you think it's too red?" I looked at the outfit again. Actually, for a Vampire with a body type and child-like face like Crin's, that outfit was perfect. I sighed and shook my head.

"No, its fine." I agreed, turning away from her and looking back in the mirror. "Did you by chance make me anything?" I asked, looking down at the robe that I still wore.

"There was only enough fabric in Edward's curtains to make one dress. Plus, it wouldn't have looked good on you." Crin stated plainly.

"You…you made them from…Edward's curtains?" I asked slowly. Crin giggled and nodded. So that was what Alice meant when she told Crin to check Edward's room…but how had she known that was what Crin had been looking for?

"Well anyways, Rosalie said to give you these." She tossed me some clothes, my quick reflexes caused my hands to shoot out and grab them before they hit the damp floor.

"Rosalie did? Why would she do that? She doesn't seem like the type to lend out clothes to random strangers…" I muttered, mostly to myself as I laid them out on the counter.

"Well you shouldn't be running around in a robe. Not that you would leave the room with it on." Crin whispered the last part. I smiled and pointed to the door.

"I also don't get changed when someone else is in the room. Leave please." Crin giggled and left the bathroom, closing the door softly. I sighed and started to pull on the outfit.

When I was done, I looked at myself in the mirror. I wore dark blue jeans with square pockets on the front and on the back with pin tucks running down the legs. My top was simple; it was a black button down shirt with sleeves that went a little past my elbows with cuffs on them. I had to admit, I looked pretty good in the outfit.

I grinned and turned and left the bathroom, turning off the light behind me. Crin had left Alice's room, and I could hear conversation from downstairs. I dashed out of Alice's room and down the wooden stairs at Vampire speed, stopping after the very last step.

Everyone was in the family room, including the Vampire with the auburn hair; I assumed that he was Edward. He glared at Crin, who was laughing at something that Emmett had told her. Though I was sure that they were aware of me, I cleared my throat. The Vampires stopped talking and looked at me. I smiled awkwardly and waved. "Hey guys, where can I sit?" Carlisle smiled and pointed at couch next to Jade. I smiled and headed over as conversation started to be continued between the two covens.

I sat down next to Jade, smelling his obviously new clothing that he had borrowed from Jasper. Jade wore a navy blue striped long sleeve shirt and black jeans. I was about to complement him, since the clothes looked pretty good on him, but it was them that I noticed that Edward was staring at either Jade or I. I frowned and turned fully toward him.

"You know, it's not polite to stare." I stated loud enough that all conversation stopped. Edward looked a little surprised for a moment, but quickly regained composure and glared, his jaw tightening. I returned the glare, and I couldn't help but notice my own jaw tightening…

Carlisle cleared his throat, and I pulled my gaze away from Edward. "Now that we've all gathered here together, we can now begin."

I looked at my brother questionably. "Begin what?" I whispered.

"They just want to ask some questions, that's all." He whispered back to me. I nodded and looked back at Carlisle's bright smile.

"So, are there only three of you?" Carlisle asked. I opened my mouth to answer, but the answer caught in my throat as the image of Royce popped into my mind.

"No, though hopefully he will be rejoining us soon." Jade answered for me. I looked at him gratefully. He smiled and patted my hand before turning his attention back on Carlisle.

"Oh, I see…where are you all headed?" Carlisle asked.

"We don't know wherever we feel like it." Jade answered again.

"Where are you from?"

"…Italy."

"Um…okay, how old are you?"

"Crin is over four hundred years old and my sister and I are both twenty-five."

"When did you get changed?"

"We were born Vampires."

Carlisle and the other Cullen's gave us bewildered looks. "But how is that possible? Vampire's can't have children!" Esme whispered. Edward's look was now filled with curiosity.

"We don't know how it was possible; our mother was taken by the Volturi during the early stages of her pregnancy, and she found out after she had arrived with them. She had us, and Crin helped her raise us." I interrupted before I could stop myself. I looked at Jade, who was glaring at me for giving away too much information, but nevertheless he sat back and let me take over from there.

"So you're from the Volturi?" Carlisle asked.

"Of course not!"

"So why are you here?" Carlisle had a doubtful look on his face, and that was what made me angry.

I stood up from the couch, my jaw once again tightened. "Carlisle, I don't know how old you are, and frankly I really don't care, but what we are saying is true. We have been running from the Volturi for ten years now. They kidnapped my mother unwillingly, and have kept her there; we tried to free her, but she sacrificed her FREEDOM for ours! We are on a mission to rescue my mother from the Volturi. So whether you believe us or not, that's not my problem. We've already been through a lot, and we don't have the time to make you believe us!"

There was silence in the room. Carlisle looked at Jasper uncertainly for a moment and then looked back at us. Suddenly I felt calmed, and I slowly sat down on the couch.

"Who…who was you mother?" Alice suddenly asked her eyes filled with curiosity. For once, she didn't look like she knew everything. I looked at her and calmly took a deep breath before answering.

"Bella; her name was Isabella Swan."

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**I am soooo sorry for the semi-long update; things kept happening when i was going to post, so today i was like, "I WILL POST!!!!!" But i didn't plan on ending it there, i swear! I'm sorry, but When i wrote that, it felt like a good ending spot. Okay, so I will update as soon as possible!**

**Now to answer some questions;**

**Rin reject; Why don't the Cullens recognize Crin if she was in the Volturi?**

**answer; simple; Crin is an...intresting Vampire inside and out, but when you challenge her, she can be very deadly. It was because of this that the Volturi used her for a lot of missions that involved traveling a lot. So she wasn't ever around when Carlisle was hanging out around the Volturi.**

**writergirl16; will the cullens realize whose children they are when they arrive?**

**answer; No, the cullens don't know who they are, though now obviously they do since Elizabeth told them.**

**reply to Hannah; Well, actually yes i am considering writting as a career, though this chapter i wasn't very fond of detail wise. But writting is a passion for me. My friends have a hard time getting me to talk to them when i'm writting, its pretty funny when they call me up and are like, "GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND TALK TO ME!" lawl!**

**So i will update as soon as i can. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!**

**Alice**


	4. Chapter 4

_"Who…who was your mother?" Alice suddenly asked her eyes filled with curiosity. For once, she didn't look like she knew everything. I looked at her and calmly took a deep breath before answering. _

_"Bella; her name was Isabella Swan."_

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The silence that followed my words was so deafening that I could hear my ears ringing. The Vampires around us stared wide-eyed with their mouths dropped open – well, all of them except Edward, but he didn't count. From what I had seen he was the strangest Vampire I had ever met.

"Did…did I say something wrong?" I asked hesitantly as the feeling of calm suddenly vanished, replaced with panic – though I wasn't sure why I was panicked.

"I'm sorry…could you repeat that?" Rosalie asked hesitantly, trying to keep her voice under control. Surprise washed through me; Rosalie hadn't been interested in what I had to say before.

"My mom's name was…is Isabella Swan." I repeated, seriously doubting that they had missed what I'd said the first time. I wasn't sure why they were reacting the way they were…suddenly a thought struck me, and before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "Um…did you know her?"

Edward's flinched; his eyes were filled with pain, rage, and confusion. I wasn't sure why he was feeling this way. He stared at me, his golden gaze penetrating…it felt like he was trying to read my mind to see if I was lying. My jaw tightened in sudden frustration. He still didn't believe me, though it was clear that the others were starting to get suspicious.

"Um…yea, sort of…" Emmett stuttered as he shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Jade leaned forward, suddenly curious.

"How did you know my mom?" he asked. I instinctively nudged his ribs. "I'm sorry, OUR mother." He rolled his eyes at me. I snorted and leaned against the arm of the chair. Men, you can't live with them, but you can't live without them.

"I'm not so sure…we should say anything…" Alice started, looking sideways at Edward.

"Hold on, how do I know you're not lying?" Edward suddenly asked for the first time. I looked at him sarcastically.

"Oh, I was beginning to think that maybe you were mute!" His glare hardened, and his jaw tightened. The rest of the Cullen's flinched, edging away from Edward slowly.

"Edward, why don't you just read their minds?" Carlisle asked.

"Wait, read our _minds?_ He'd have a better chance reading a mouse's mind than read ours..." I stated bluntly. The look on Edward's perfect face made him look like he truly was; a Vampire.

"Yes, that's Edward's special ability; to read minds." Carlisle calmly replied. He was the only one who wasn't getting edgy.

"Well, Liz is right about one thing; he can't read her mind, nor can he read mine. Aro already tried." Jade spoke up; his voice was light and cheery.

"Not that it's going to make a difference; I haven't been able to read any of your minds since _they _walked through our door!" Edward accused harshly.

"Oh boo hoo, my dead heart bleeds peanut butter for you!" I don't know why, but Edward was making me angry…Crin was glaring at me, warning me to shut up, but for some reason the comments were popping out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Oh, well I can fix that. My special ability is to protect others mentally. But I can tune it out, if you'd like; you could read Crin's mind…well as long as she stays focused." Jade smiled brightly. Crin giggled and pecked him on the cheek, taking his head in her hands.

"Please do." Carlisle politely smiled, gesturing toward my brother to do whatever he had to do. Jade sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration, his head slightly tilting forward, letting his untidy black hair fall over his face. He stayed completely still for a few moments before he exhaled and looked back up, weary look in his eyes.

He didn't have to tell us that he had controlled his powers, because Edward suddenly stiffened, his expression flickering to surprise. The thoughts of his family members – and Crin—must have hit him a little too suddenly. I supposed it was like someone had run up to him and screamed "BOO" after he had been isolated in complete silence for a certain amount of time.

"Now that Edward has his ability back, I would like to ask Crin some questions if you wouldn't mind?" Carlisle looked at Crin expectantly. Crin smiled and nodded her head. Carlisle took an unnecessary intake of breath before he continued. "Could you please describe what Bella looked like?" Carlisle asked.

Crin took only a moment to answer, but just before she did, Edward's face grew paler than usual. "She has long, reddish-brown hair with golden eyes with this…unbearable sweet look in them. She's about average height and full rosy lips…" Crin trailed off, obviously finished describing my mother's physical appearance.

Carlisle was silent for a moment before he asked in a quiet voice, "How did you meet Bella?" Crin's thoughtful expression turned into one of happiness.

"Well I used to be in the Volturi, but I was always assigned to take on the big major jobs that required traveling. So when I was called back in for another assignment, I was shocked to find out that I was to protect some Vampire who was only a couple years old…well, 'protect' is a bad term for it; more like 'baby-sit'. I was to make sure she didn't run away. I didn't know why exactly I was doing what I was doing, and my first thoughts after receiving the assignment were, 'why me? Why can't I be doing something major, something…exciting?'

"Well when I was introduced to her, all my negative thoughts disappeared. I knew she was different than most Vampire's…not just because of her strange eye color, but there was something in her eyes…I still don't know what, but something made me want to stay. Of course, she was definitely upset, though she wouldn't tell me why. In the beginning, Bella considered me to be in the way of her escape, I suppose. When we eventually got to know each other, I asked her more personal questions, such as 'why are you here?' or 'why is Aro so concerned about you?'

"Well, apparently her 'special ability' was to momentarily 'borrow' another Vampire's ability. No other Vampire had ever had something like that. Aro wanted to…study it…" Crin's voice faded away. I'd heard this story before; it always ended in the same place. Jade and I both knew what Aro did…Crin never liked talking about it.

Crin must have been thinking about it, since Edward's expression was difficult to describe. So many emotions flickered across his pale features. The emotions most clearly noticeable was rage and pain. His reactions were confusing me; obviously these Vampires's had something to do with our mother, but Edward's reactions were…different.

Carlisle cleared his throat – another unnecessary action – and slowly asked what I hoped to be the last question – Edward looked like he couldn't take much more. "Did Bella…really have children? And if she did, who are they and where are they now?"

Crin's smile re-appeared. This was her favorite part of the story. "Well of course she did! It was a shock to the whole Volturi, something Aro had not expected to happen…something no one thought possible! It was about two months after arriving at the Volturi did we find out she was pregnant. She was so shocked that she sat there for a full twenty-four hours staring off into space with this look of utter surprise! The news was so unexpected; it wasn't like a normal, mortal pregnancy. She never got queasy, she never got dizzy, and she always kept to her normal diet; usually bear or mountain loin. The only thing that had really given any sort of hint was the mood swings. Other than that, she was just fine.

"Though we had no idea what we were going to do, Aro and I both agreed that I would be the one to help her, since it was my job to 'baby-sit' her anyways. Bella was certainly excited when the news fully sunk in…though she was scared, too. She would be alone; no one knew how to take care of a Vampire baby. She had to shoulder much of the responsibility of becoming a parent. I asked her who her mate was, and when I did, she suddenly became…I don't know. I've never seen such anguish before. I've seen Vampire's who have lost their mate's…they'd all been vengeful. But her sudden anguish made me want to take back the question. I think my question made something sink in, because whenever she thought I wasn't looking, she would have that same look on her face."

Crin paused for a moment before changing the subject. "I helped deliver; she had twins, who are, of course, sitting right here with us. Jade is older…"

I cut her off quickly, "Only by five minutes, forty seven seconds." Crin shot me an annoyed glance.

"Yes, what she said. Anyhow, of course Bella was overjoyed when she held her kids for the first time." Crin smile was soft, her eyes filled with a dreamy look. "Bella raised them for their first fifteen years before we escaped…Bella was supposed to come too, but the Volturi caught onto our plan…"

"Stop Crin," I interrupted; I hated this part of the story. I had already lived through it once; I didn't want to hear about it again. Yes, I had told Royce about it since he had joined in with our little coven, but other than that we never talked about it. Pain washed through me, and it probably showed on my expression, since Crin didn't protest.

Carlisle turned to look at Edward. "So are they telling the truth?" he asked. Edward was silent for a long moment before answering.

"I don't want to believe it, but yes. Crin has a good, clear memory…" Edward started. He looked at Jade and I through a narrowed gaze, studying us. It was awfully uncomfortable.

"I think…I want some fresh air, if that's alright?" I asked Carlisle, standing up. Carlisle hesitated, looking at Edward who was still frozen with a twisted expression plastered on his perfect features.

"It's alright, just come back soon." Carlisle answered warily, still unsure of what to say. I nodded and started to head for the door, but Crin stopped me.

"I want to go as well, I'm hungry." She stood, following after me with her graceful stride.

"But Crin, you had food yesterday!" Jade reminded her, though he made no move to stop her.

"Well, I want something to snack on." Crin turned and stuck her tongue out at him, her hands on her hips. I rolled my eyes.

"Real mature Crin, let's just go." I opened the door and sped off into the night without waiting for Crin to catch up. She'd find me later, when she wanted to go back; she didn't need me to hold her hand while she hunted for a squirrel or something.

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When we got back, it was midnight. In the distance owls hooted, and I could hear the footsteps of deer as they cautiously made their way around the meadow, munching on the damp grass. But above all else, we could hear Edward throwing things around his room, breaking things and yelling incomprehensible words. Esme sat on the couch in the light of the lamp, reading a magazine; she didn't seem to be paying much attention to it, though.

"Esme, is Edward alright?" Crin asked, truly concerned for some random reason. Esme looked up at us, a sad look in her golden eyes.

"No, but he'll calm down soon." I wondered how she knew that, but I didn't ask. "Alice is playing guitar hero in the family room; you two can play if you'd like. Jade is in there watching, he said he didn't feel like playing." Esme smiled. Crin's eyes lit up at the words 'guitar hero'. It was her ultimate favorite game next to DDR. Crin looked at me pleadingly, and I sighed and nodded. I needed to ask Esme something anyways.

When Crin had left the room, I sat down next to Esme. "Esme, if you don't mind, your reaction to hearing who my mother was, was a bit odd. Did you somehow know my mother?" I asked her quietly.

Esme suddenly froze; it was as though she had been hoping that I wouldn't ask that particular question. She cautiously looked at me.

"Liz, you must understand; I would be more than happy to tell you what exactly you mother meant to us, but I'm afraid I've been asked not to." I was about to protest, but Esme held up her hand to stop me. "But, Edward will tell you once he's calmed down."

I hesitated, searching her eyes. She was telling the truth. I nodded, standing up and heading toward the kitchen and family room. "Thanks Esme."

"Any time Liz."

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He went on for hours, destroying his room. No one dared to stop him, though clearly they were all uncomfortable. They tried to cover their discomfort with their activities. Jade was up with Emmett, probably doing guy things like arm wrestling. Crin and Alice were both locked in a never ending battle of guitar hero. They had tied every single game since they started.

I was sitting at the kitchen table, watching Crin giggle and bang her head to the music along side of Alice; they were becoming fast friends.

And that was exactly what worried me; I had a feeling that when it was time to go, the others wouldn't want to leave.

I hadn't noticed the absence of crashing things; I suppose that I had grown accustomed to it. Suddenly Edward was behind me. "May I talk to you and your coven?" He asked in a calm voice. I could hear that he was restraining himself, but from what?

"Uh, sure…" I looked at his carefully composed blank expression before I called for Jade. Jade was in the kitchen in a flash, wearing jeans and a wife-beater; my suspicions about the boys activities turned out to be correct; they were showing off their abs.

"Would you please get a shirt on?!" I asked my brother, annoyance coating my voice. Jade stared at me for a moment, before shrugging and muttering "fine." He reached down to the edge of the shirt and ripped it off.

"Let me go get a t-shirt." He smiled at me, disappearing for a moment and re-appearing the next with a black t-shirt on that still showed off his abs. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Edward.

"Don't mind my idiotic brother, he's a freak." I told him simply. The ghost of a smile spread across Edward lips for a moment as he went to the other side of the table to have a seat. Crin was next to Jade in a flash, and she lightly kissed Jade on the cheek before sitting down. I looked back to where I'd last seen Alice; she was gone.

Edward stared at me, and then he stared at Jade. "Um…so what's up?" I asked reluctantly, not sure why he was having such a hard time.

Edward opened his mouth to speak. "This is a bit hard for me to tell you but…" I rolled my eyes, getting impatient.

"Okay, if it's that difficult, let me start off. How did you know my mother?" My question caught him off guard; he hadn't been expecting me to burst out with the topic. He then smiled, leaning forward toward us.

"Your mother was my wife." He smiled sadly, searching our eyes for our reactions. I could say nothing. This wasn't what I had expected. I'd expected something like, "she was my best friend", but certainly not this.

"Do you have any proof?" Jade suddenly asked his voice very calm. Edward looked as if he expected one of us to ask that question. He reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet, opening it up to a small hand-held wedding picture.

Though my mother was clearly human, I could still tell she was my mother. She looked frailer, much more average next to Edward, but she was still beautiful.

Edward long fingers suddenly lashed out, flipping to another picture. "This is us after our wedding." My mother was now changed into her stunning vampire form, except the golden eyes that I'd come to know where red…but she still looked like the kind young woman that I'd always known.

If she was married to Edward, things started to dawn on me. I looked at Edward, not sure what was written on my face. He said nothing as he stared at me, observing my emotions. "From Crin's memories I now know that you truly are the children of my mate and wife. And that means…_**I am your father**_."

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**LOL the ending line makes me laugh. I'M SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER!!!!!! I swear once again I didn't mean it. But hey, I love suspense!**

**Okay to answer questions;**

**O r i g i n a l1- Just out of curiosity, Alice didn't see that one comming right? Because she would hae told Edward. **

**Answer; Though you didn't give too many details as to what you were asking, thankfully it was still obvious that you were talking about the last cliff hanger. No, she didn't see it comming. Liz and Jade were planning to keep that fact a secret, so when Liz blurted it out, it was spur of the moment. Besides, even IF Alice had seen that, Edward probably wouldn't have believed her. (He's too stuborn) **

**MegaKiraraLover- If they're Edward's and Bella's kids, wouldn't they smell like them? **

**answer; good question, but no. Meyer never really specified if Vampire's smell different from one another or not, she basically just described Edward's scent as smelling intoxicating. She never said how Alice smelled, or Carlisle smelled, etc. So really Liz and Jade could have compleatly diffrent scents. Sure, once they've known each other well enough to know their scents (they do have diffrent scents, they're not ll the same in my story, i mean, how boring would that be if they had the same sent?) they'll probably be able to tell the diffrence, but they don't smell like their parents. they have their own origional scent. I don't know if I made sense in this explanation, so I'm going to shut up now. **

**So thats basically it for now, I'll write more once finals are out of my hair. (EW FINALS!) I would have updated this sunday, but I got really sick, but now that I'm...well, i don't have a fever, so thats good, right? I am able to write and update as much as I want to!**

**so, please send in your comments/questions!**

**REVIEW!**

**Luv**

**Alice**


	5. Chapter 5

_Edward stared at me, and then he stared at Jade. "Um…so what's up?" I asked reluctantly, not sure why he was having such a hard time._

_Edward opened his mouth to speak. "This is a bit hard for me to tell you but…" I rolled my eyes, getting impatient._

"_Okay, if it's that difficult, let me start off. How did you know my mother?" My question caught him off guard; he hadn't been expecting me to burst out with the topic. He then smiled, leaning forward toward us._

"_Your mother was my wife." He smiled sadly, searching our eyes for our reactions. I could say nothing. This wasn't what I had expected. I'd expected something like, "she was my best friend", but certainly not this._

"_Do you have any proof?" Jade suddenly asked his voice very calm. Edward looked as if he expected one of us to ask that question. He reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet, opening it up to a small hand-held wedding picture._

_Though my mother was clearly human, I could still tell she was my mother. She looked frailer, much more average next to Edward, but she was still beautiful._

_Edward long fingers suddenly lashed out, flipping to another picture. "This is us after our wedding." My mother was now changed into her stunning vampire form, except the golden eyes that I'd come to know where red…but she still looked like the kind young woman that I'd always known._

_If she was married to Edward, things started to dawn on me. I looked at Edward, not sure what was written on my face. He said nothing as he stared at me, observing my emotions. "From Crin's memories I now know that you truly are the children of my mate and wife. And that means…__**I am your father**__."_

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The silence was deafening. From somewhere within the house I was fairly certain that the others were listening in, waiting for our reactions. Edward's last line kept playing over and over in my head as though someone were replaying Darth Vader's line from _"Star Wars; The Empire Strikes Back"_. I suddenly wished that I hadn't seen that movie; if I hadn't, maybe I would have been taking this more seriously. I started to laugh.

Edward, Jade and Crin gave me a funny look. "I'm…I'm sorry, but that just sounded like, _'Luke, I AM YOUR FATHER!'_ I'm sorry, now what was my mother to you really?" I asked, leaning forward and resting my chin on my hands as I forced myself to stop laughing.

"I was being serious." Edward was frowning, his jaw tightened in annoyance. "Your mother and I were married; she was taken from me about twenty five years ago." My smile disappeared.

Crin suddenly gasped, standing up in her chair. "Now that I think about it…Bella did mention your name once…Liz, do you remember when that human boy bumped into you and when you apologized, he suddenly got all dizzy? Remember how your mom was laughing and we didn't get why, since clearly it wasn't all that funny? I asked her why, and guess what she told me? She said, 'Oh, I'm just laughing because Liz and Edward are so much alike; they dazzle the members of the opposite sex without meaning to.'" I tried to think back, but the memory wasn't as clear to me as it was to Crin, obviously.

"Crin, there could be a ton of vampire's named Edward out there," I contradicted, though I knew that the chances of what I was suggesting were slim.

"Oh please, THIS Edward has proof that he was married to your mother, I highly doubt any other Vampire named Edward would have that kind of proof." I looked at Edward, and he looked back at me. He seemed like he was trying to convince me specifically; he was right to do so. I could tell that Jade believed him, but was waiting for me to be convinced as well. I could see all of their points; the proof was right there in front of me, but…

I didn't want to believe him.

"So what do you expect me to do, let you waltz into my life like the past twenty five years never happened? Suddenly start bawling, crying 'oh daddy, oh DADDY, OH how I've longed to have a daddy, and now here you are!' well I've got news for you, that isn't going to happen!" I stood up, knocking the chair over in my sudden haste to stand up. Edward was trying his best to keep his composure, but I could tell that I was getting to him.

"Liz, none of us are trying to force anything on you…" Jade coaxed, trying to calm me down. I glared at him.

"And YOU," I started, backing away from him and toward the back door, "I can't believe that you're just going to LET him walk in, claim to be our father and expect us to...to…" I didn't know what Edward expected out of us, really. He didn't really do anything but claim to be our father…I felt betrayed, angry, and confused. I didn't ask for a father, all I wanted was my mother back.

"Come on Liz, you can't seriously say that you weren't ever curious about our father?" Jade was getting annoyed now and he looked like he was going to try to stop me from running…

"No, I haven't." And it was the truth. As a child, all I cared about was my brother, Crin and my mother. Nothing else mattered. Nothing much had changed since then, the only other person I cared about was Royce... "The thought hardly ever crossed my mind."

"Well that was pretty stupid." Jade stood, slowly making his way around the other side of the table, trying to make it to the door. I growled a warning growl, and Jade stopped.

"You're the stupid one, believing HIM and letting him come into our lives!" I snarled, my eyes warning him; he had started to go for the door again.

"Elizabeth Mason Swan, stop acting like a two year old and listen to reason!" Jade snapped a snarl of his own forming on his perfect features. Crin made no move to help or stop Jade; she was obviously keeping out of the argument. That was exactly why I loved Crin so much, she always kept her nose out when she knew things were going to get nasty.

Edward looked like he was going to intervene, but he also looked a bit awkward about doing so. "Why should I, Jade? Why should I let this…this man walk into our lives when clearly our mother didn't want that to happen, why else would she not have told us about him?!"

Jade looked REALLY mad now. "You really are stupid; the same reason you can't talk about Royce." My anger vanished for a moment.

"What?" I asked, my voice clearly surprised.

"You can't talk about Royce because it hurts you so much to do so, doesn't it? You can't talk about the day we left the Volturi either, because it hurts. If mom was forced to leave dad, don't you think that maybe it was too painful for her to talk about as well? Don't you think that maybe she didn't want to get our hopes up, thinking that our father was out there, looking for us?"

"I don't understand…" I lied, and he knew it. I couldn't look at him. He had a pretty good point. He paid more attention to what was going on in my life than I gave him credit for. I slowly inched toward the door.

"Oh please Elizabeth, don't lie." Crap. "Just sit back down and we can talk this through, okay?" He sounded like he was trying to persuade a toddler who was having a tantrum. He took another step for the door. If I was going to run, I would have to do it now. "Just sit down and we can talk about this, okay?" He said calmly, holding his hands up slowly.

I snarled and dashed for the door at Vampire speed. Edward stood; about to get between me, but Jade was already there. Our bodies collided, making an ear splitting SMACK! Jade locked his arms around my waist and I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but his hold was like stone. I snarled fiercely, twisting my body so that I could bite into his neck. Jade gasped in surprise and let go. I pushed myself away from him and dashed out the door and into the cool, crisp morning air, the world passing me as I dashed toward who knew where at Vampire speed, not daring to look back.

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I slowed down when I reached a cliff overlooking the ocean. The sun had been shining so I stayed away from the small little village of Angoon and ended up here. Below me the waves crashed against the cliff, sending white spray up into the air. The scent of the sea was overpowering, my skin glittered with the setting sun – in Alaska the sun doesn't stay up all day, only for a few hours was there actually day light, so it was perfect for a Vampire – the rays from the sun glistened on the sea, reflecting the rich colors of gold and red.

The snow crunched lightly under my feet as I slowly made my way over to the edge of the cliff where no snow covered and sat down. Letting my legs dangle over the edge. The cold wind blew through my hair, making it bounce around my shoulders. To my right I could see Angoon, the fisherman docking for the day, the children heading to school before they had no sun to see by. At that moment I longed for mortality; I wanted that ignorance, I wanted to feel like there were no such things as Vampires and the Volturi.

I shook my head, realizing how stupid I was being, how much I was over reacting. It wasn't what I was that was causing the issues in my life. I couldn't help that my mother was kidnapped by insane Vampires who wanted to experiment with her powers, I couldn't help that Royce was trying to lead the Volturi away from us, and in doing so putting himself in danger.

And it wasn't my fault that we'd accidentally found our father.

I never asked for a father, but then again he probably never expected to have kids. Vampire's never had kids before, so Edward couldn't have possibly thought about it seriously. What was I going to do? I still needed to rescue my mother somehow and in doing so get back Royce.

The thought of Royce made me sigh and fall back onto the snow. He still hadn't called. I was starting to worry…did something happen? Or was he under circumstances that made it too dangerous for him to find a phone and call? The more I thought about the possibilities the more my panic grew. I wished he hadn't left me. We could have kept going the way it was, he didn't have to go running off, acting like a hero. Panic was replacing with pain. I wanted to see him, to hold him in my arms, to kiss his cold lips…

But that was probably how my parents felt.

I sighed, wishing I had a guitar or something – I'd taken lessons as a child and became quite good at some instruments, guitar was my favorite. But I didn't have one obviously, so slowly, I started to sing.

**Vide'o mare quant'e bello!**

_**Look to the sea, how beautiful!**_

**Spira tantu sentimento**

_**Exhaling such feeling**_

**Comme tu a chi tiene mente**

_**How sweet is the sound**_

**Ca scetato'o faje sunna **

_**Making me dream. **_

**Guarda, gua chistu ciardino; **

_**Watch the seaside garden**_

**Siente, sie sti sciure arance. **

_**Smell the scent of oranges. **_

**Nu prufumo accussi fino**

_**Its perfume cannot compare**_

**Dinto'o core se ne va… **

_**To the heartbeats of love…**_

**E tu dice "I' parto addio!" **

_**And you say "I go, goodbye!" **_

**T'alluntane das tu core… **

_**You leave my heart…**_

**Da la terra da l'ammore…**

_**And from this land of love…**_

**Tiene'o core' e nun turna? **

_**You can take your heart? **_

**Ma nun me lassa **

_**Then do not leave me, **_

**Nun darme stu turmiento! **

_**Nor give me such torment! **_

**Torna a Surriento, Famme campa! **

_**Return to Surriento, that I may not die! **_

**E tu dice "I' parto addio!" **

_**And you say "I go, goodbye!" **_

**T'alluntane das tu core… **

_**You leave my heart…**_

**Da la terra da l'ammore…**

_**And from this land of love…**_

**Tiene'o core' e nun turna? **

_**You can take your heart? **_

**Ma nun me lassa **

_**Then do not leave me, **_

**Nun darme stu turmiento! **

_**Nor give me such torment! **_

**Torna a Surriento, Famme campa! **

_**Return to Surriento, that I may not die! **_

My eyes started to sting as tears threatened to spill, though I knew they wouldn't. Instead, dry sobs suddenly wracked my body. Before I was eighteen – the age I became a complete vampire – I was able to do the normal things that a human does; I could cry when I was upset, sleep when I was tired, and I could eat food and enjoy the taste of it. Now that I had fully become a Vampire, I couldn't do those things. So I pretty much felt like an idiot for sobbing even though technically I couldn't cry.

Pain washed through me; I felt like doing nothing. I wanted to mope around while my family moved on. The Volturi would always search for me, but maybe they wouldn't expect to find me in just one place. I could live in the mountains, eating bear and other various animals that were over populated. My brother could be with Crin, and I could call them from a pay phone in the nearest town…When Royce came back, he could live with me and we could be together…

My daydream stopped short. I was being REALLY stupid now. First of all, I loved my brother – even though he was a pain in the butt at times – and I loved Crin and my mom – especially my mother. It was hard for me to be apart from my mother even now. The moment we separated was like I had left part of myself with her.

Secondly, though I was normally on the road with my broken coven, I still got to shower when we got the money to pay for a hotel. Living in the mountains would mean I wouldn't ever get to shower. Hey, I wasn't THAT much of an outdoors woman. Though I was a Vampire, I still liked taking a hot shower and taking care of personal hygiene was actually a big enough thing that I wouldn't actually have the guts to give it up.

Thirdly, my brother wouldn't let me leave for such a stupid reason. He would say that I wasn't ready yet and that when I left it would be for a good reason like starting my own family…not that I knew if I COULD start a technical family like my mother had. Besides, the Volturi would probably use Royce to track us down, so we would constantly be on the run, and we wouldn't have the time to start a family.

I sighed deeply, controlling the pointless, dry sobbing. No matter how much I wanted to run from my problems, I knew I couldn't. I would have to be strong and overcome them. I knew that the best way to overcome my problems were to meet them and figure them out.

The problem with my kidnapped mother was simple, but hard at the same time. It was easy because I knew that I needed to rescue her. Aro was much too curious to let her go anytime soon, and by that time who knows what my mother could be like? I avoided thinking about the possibility of my mother returning to me as a different person.

It was hard because no one had successfully launched a rescue mission against the Volturi and succeeded. So actually getting in was going to be tough.

The problem with Royce was also simple. When it was time, we would meet up with him and then we would be on the run again. Our coven would be restored, and maybe our relationship could progress. But thinking about the time in between now and that moment made me cringe. I had a feeling that it was going to be a while, and that made me anxious.

The issue with my father…with Edward…that was a tougher issue. What was I supposed to do now? He was here now, and I didn't really know what he expected of my brother and me. If he actually wanted us, then he would want us to stay. I didn't want to get his coven mixed up in the problems of ours, so I had a feeling that if Edward asked us to stay, things were going to get complicated, especially when we explained why we needed to leave.

But beyond that issue, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know Edward, and Edward hardly knew us. It was going to be extremely awkward, especially if Edward tried to make up for the past twenty five years. But more importantly, how was I going to react? My first impression of Edward wasn't very good; to me he was still a rude, moping Vampire who had social issues.

The term _'don't judge a book by its cover'_ popped into my mind. I knew for a fact that my mother wouldn't have fallen in love with someone who moped around all the time, so he must not have been like that when they fell in love. The reason for the moping was probably because of my mother.

Okay, so I could give him another chance with that. I knew I wasn't ready for him to start acting like a father just yet…I knew that I was going to have to accept him, especially if my mother still loved him – which she probably did or she would have said something to us earlier. If my mom still loved him, she would want to stay with him, so every time I was around her, he would be around too.

So I was going to have to get used to it. It was then that I decided. When I got back, I would talk to Edward. I would ask him what his intentions are, and then I would give my feelings.

The scent of another Vampire approaching startled me out of my contemplations. It was now dark, and the sea's never ending waters were pitch black. Snow had started to fall, falling gently on my cheeks and a couple flakes had gotten stuck on my long lashes. I sat up and rubbed the flakes from my eyes and face. I was about to run my hands through my hair – I knew that snow was stuck in it, its white color standing out against the ink black curls of my hair – but a voice stopped me.

"You know you've got some snow in your hair, right?" it sounded amused, but there was a sad tone to it. I knew it was Edward right then.

I turned to look up at him; he was closer to me than I had anticipated. I had to crane my neck to look up at his face. His face was carefully morphed into an amused expression, but the look in his eyes didn't match his expression. "Of course I'm aware of that. That usually happens when you lay in the snow for a time." I retorted, not moving to stand up.

Edward must have understood that if he wanted to talk, he was going to have to sit down, because he sighed and sat down nest to me, holding his knees close to his chest. He looked out to the sea, saying nothing. I watched him, waiting for him to speak.

"You like to be called Liz," it wasn't a question, more like a statement of fact. I wondered if he got that from my brother, or if he read one of the others minds.

"Yes, Elizabeth is a bit long and people usually only call me by my full name when I'm in trouble." I felt like I was babbling; a simple yes would have been fine. Edward didn't seem to mind; he now watched me carefully, listening to what I was saying.

A moment passed, and I assumed that Edward was thinking about what I had said. "Do you get in trouble a lot?" he asked.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I guess I get into some trouble, but I haven't exactly been in extreme trouble. Of course, I'm not counting the trouble I've gotten into with the Volturi…that's a different story. But I don't think that's really my fault, or anyone's for that matter."

Edward mulled over what I said again. "I see," he muttered, turning back to look at the ocean. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, but anxiety was starting to bother me. I wanted to know what he wanted.

When I was sure that he wasn't planning on asking me anything else, I asked. "So…you're my…um…our father?" Edward tensed, looking over at me slowly, watching me warily, waiting for me to loose my cool like I had back at the house.

"Yes." He answered cautiously. I nodded, looking down at my folded hands resting in my lap.

"Um…considering the evidence you gave us, I can't see any reason for me not to believe you…I could tell that was my mother, I would know her anywhere." Edward chuckled, surprising me. I looked up into his molten golden eyes.

"You and I both." He told me. I smiled weakly before looking back down at my hands.

"But I was wondering…now that we've…uh…met, what are your…intentions?" I felt so awkward asking him this; I hardly knew him and I was already asking personal questions. Normal people, even Vampires, don't ask each other what the others are thinking.

Well, as far as I was concerned.

Edward was silent for a moment. "I know that this information is new to you…its new to me too, obviously. I didn't ever expect for Bella to bear me children, since I'd thought it was impossible. But now that the unexpected has happened, I think that…I would like to try to be a father to you and your brother." the last sentence made me tense. "But I don't think your ready for me to be a father to you yet." I looked up at him in surprise. His eyes bore into mine, deadly serious.

"Why?" I breathed, not loud enough for a mortal to over hear; not that there was anyone on the cliff. Edward smiled a crooked smile before he continued.

"Because your reaction today made things clear; your whole life you've grown to love your mother, brother, Crin, and…well, I'm not sure who else, but still. If I treated you like a father would his daughter, you would have a hard time accepting me. I think that for now, I'll treat you as I would a friend. I think it would be a bit awkward if I suddenly treated you like I've known you since the moment you were born….though I would have loved to have been there for that long."

I stared at him, my mouth open. I knew he couldn't read my mind, but he still managed to guess what I was thinking. Dang he was good.

I closed my mouth and looked back down at my clenched hands. "What about living arrangements?" I asked quietly.

"Well…I expect that you're old enough to make your own decisions, but I would love it if you stayed. I would like to get to know you…don't friends usually get to know each other before anything else progresses in their relationship?" his tone was light, but there was also uncertainty. I smiled to myself. He wanted us to stay. And he was nervous about our decision. I was amazed he was allowing us to have a decision.

"And what about our mom?" I asked, the smile was now sad. Edward growled and I looked up in alarm, my body tensing. But Edward wasn't looking at me anymore. His hands clenched, and he pulled his knees up closer.

"Trust me, we WILL get her back. You have no idea how tempted I am to buy a ticket to Voltura to bring her back." I was frightened by the tone in his voice. It sounded…like the tone of voice a _Vampire _would use. Sure, my brother was scary at times, but Edward was...terrifying. And I didn't even see his expression.

"Why don't we?" I asked after a moment's silence. Edward shook his head angrily.

"After you left, Alice had a vision and figured out what I was up to. She scolded me of course, and argued that if I went alone, or just with the two of you, I wouldn't be able to succeed. And she's right, this is something that the whole family needs to be apart of. The Volturi don't go down easily; it hasn't been attempted before." He shook his head, "But that doesn't mean I don't want to go charging to the rescue."

I nodded, looking down at the ocean with wide eyes. Obviously he cared for my mother…okay, that was an understatement. He was totally head-over heals in love with her. My thoughts turned to the Volturi. They were always watching for us, always looking for us. Now that a coven of 7 Vampire's bent on revenge were offering to help my brother and I bring our mother back…

We might have a chance at winning. We might actually be able to get her back…things started to occur to me then. "Edward, why would your whole family help? I mean, I totally understand why you would help…but I don't understand why…"

Edward cut me off at once. "Your mother thought the same way. I'm not the only one who cares deeply about your mother in my family. Esme and Carlisle love her like she's their own daughter. Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and even Rosalie who envied your mother when they first met, love her like a sibling. Before I met your mother, I was alone. When your mom walked into my life…well, you get what I mean when I say 'life', but she was my personal savior. When we met, my family welcomed her with open arms –except Rosalie, but that doesn't matter anymore – and they considered her as one of us…except human. They helped me protect her then, they will help us now. Especially now that they've found out that you and your brother came into the world."

Well, I couldn't argue with that. He had a good point; if Crin was in trouble, I would do everything possible to help my brother protect her. I wasn't sure if he would do the same for me, since he's the over protective brother type, but whatever. I thought of the future, of us attacking the Volturi's defenses… suddenly something VERY important hit me, something I should have realized.

I wanted to kick myself for not realizing it earlier.

"Edward," my voice was urgent, and he looked at me curiously, "do you think that the Volturi know that your our father? And do you think they'd see your family as a threat?"

Edward looked thoughtful for a moment. "Aro knew we were together, so yea he probably does know that I'm the father…I'm not sure he'd see us as a threat though…why?"

I stood up quickly. "We need to get back to the house,_ now!"_ I spoke at Vampire speed, backing away. Edward stood and was at my side in an instant.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his hand on my shoulder, stopping me from going any further.

I looked at him with wide eyes. "If that's the case, they would have been watching you. When my brother was in two miles of your home, your family's presence Imeadietly disappeared, almost as if you never existed. They would have known Imeadietly where we were." My expression hardened. "We could very well be having un-welcome visitors, _very soon_."

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**So how did you guys like your VERY long chapter? It took me FOREVER to write! Well the song I put in is called "Vita Per Sempre", a clasic Italian song that I sang. When I sang it, I actually did picture Elizabeth, because i was in the process of comming up with ideas for this story. That song actually inspired the scene where she's contemplating what to do. Its a tragic, sad, yet beautiful song. If you skipped it, i put the translation with it, and I encourage you to go back and read the english lyrics.**

**But yea. So no one had questions this time, so I guess...thanks for the reviews! The more I get, the more I'm inspired to keep writting!**

**so, REVIEW!!!!!!!**

**Oh, and for those of you who like Pirates of the Carribean, my friend wrote a fanfic on it, and its really good! please go check it out! She's a very good writter! Her pen name is Rin Reject, so please check it out!**

**Well, anyways, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**luv**

**Alice**


	6. Chapter 6

I burst into the living room, Edward close behind me. "Jade, Crin, come here please." I said as calmly as possible. It was loud enough that they heard me from behind a closed door upstairs; they appeared in front of me instantly.

"Ah, you're back." Jade stated, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at me with a skeptical look. Crin rolled her eyes and nudged his ribs.

"The bite you gave him still stings, so Jade is sort of in a grumpy mood." Crin informed me, a small apologetic smile plastered on her angelic, pixie-like face.

"Um…yea, sorry about that," I smiled sheepishly. Jade scowled and muttered under his breath about getting me back later when I wasn't expecting it. I decided to ignore my brother's pointless plotting and skipped to the point. "Jade, you had your power protecting us when we arrived." I stated the obvious. Jade's expression became blank.

"Yes, I did." He muttered, curiosity coating his voice.

"Do you have it going right now?" I supposed I could have just asked Edward if he could hear his family's thoughts, but I thought it would make more sense to ask Jade directly.

"Yes…it doesn't stay off unless I concentrate on it." Jade's eyes narrowed.

"Well, we should be expecting the Volturi to pop up on the door step soon." I sighed, shaking my head. "They must have been watching the Cullen's, seeing if we'd run to our father for help. When we were near the house, the Cullen's presence must have disappeared." I concluded, sighing and placing my hands on my hips. Jade growled as Crin tensed next to him.

"What do we do?" Jade asked, his voice now serious and professional, though I highly doubted running from a major group of Vampire's counted as a profession.

I thought about it for a moment. "If we leave now…" Edward suddenly cut me off.

"Out of the question, you are staying here." He growled, suddenly furious by the thought of us leaving. We looked at him with a bewildered expression.

"You really should wait for people to finish speaking before jumping to conclusions Edward; it's rude." I said sarcastically to lighten the mood; I wasn't sure if I was actually successful, but whatever. I continued on, "If we leave now, all it's going to do is leave our mess with the Cullen's. I say we wait for them."

Jade and Crin exchanged surprised looks before they looked back at me curiously. "And what if they decide to take us back Liz?" Jade inquired slowly; he obviously wasn't too sure about the idea of us waiting around for the enemy, and normally I would have agreed.

"Jade think about this; we are surrounded by seven Vampire's, and you have the ability to nullify powers that may be harmful to us. And with Crin on our side – who did actually work for them for most of her immortal life—the odds are pretty much even." I smiled, proud of my brilliant sounding plan.

"Interesting plan…it may work," Edward mused, his voice calm, "But what if they come in bigger numbers?"

I thought about his question for a moment, but could come up with no answer. So much for my brilliant epiphany. Luckily, Crin came up with something. "I highly doubt they would launch an attack when we're so close to a village of humans. They wouldn't send so many. The less they send the less chance that the Vampire's will suddenly…slip." She whispered the last word, and we cringed, knowing what she meant. If a Vampire happened to be thirsty, they wouldn't hesitate to feed. And in a small town like Angoon, even one missing person would raise a commotion among the people…no, the Volturi definitely wouldn't want that to happen. They'd send two or three.

Suddenly Alice appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a reassuring expression on her face. "They won't send too many; just Jane and Demitri. As Liz said, Jane won't be able to use her powers against us." At first I wondered how she knew that, but then I remembered that she saw the future once things were decided. As soon as we had decided to stay and see what happened, Alice saw the outcome. We would be safe as long as things didn't change.

"How long do we have?" Edward asked Alice. Alice held up a finger and closed her eyes. We waited patiently for her to gather information that had yet to happen.

When she opened her eyes, her expression was serious. "A few hours," She answered in a bleak tone.

Edward tensed, but he nodded. "Warn Carlisle and the others please."

I shifted my weight around nervously. "So what do we do now?" I asked. Jade frowned, still a little uneasy about the plan.

"We wait."

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Waiting around for your enemy to show up on your door step is no picnic, let me tell you. Jade stared at the TV, not really watching it, but instead contemplating on the events that would soon occur.

Crin sat in his lap, her fingers tracing over Jade's muscles. She stared at the TV, seeming more interested than Jade was. Whatever they were watching, it didn't look all that intelligent; probably one of the lame sitcoms that Crin sometimes liked to watch.

I sat at the table, looking out the window at the dark sky, watching the snow flakes fall gently down to the ground. Every second that passed felt like eternity, and every once in a while I found myself looking at the bright neon lights of the stove's clock, only to see that only a minute had passed.

My foot tapped nervously; though my plan seemed brilliant, and though Crin said that we would be fine, I still fretted.

What if something went wrong? What if Demitri suddenly lost his temper and everything changed?

I shuddered at the thought of losing someone dear to me; my brother…Crin…and even Edward and his family…

"Calm down Liz," Edward's sudden appearance at my side made me jump a little in surprise. Was I really so out of it that I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings? I relaxed a bit as he sat down next to me.

"I am calm," I lied. Edward rolled his eyes.

"There's no possible way to lie about your feelings here; Jasper can feel others emotions, and even your brother can't nullify his powers. He could feel your tension from the other side of the house." If I could have, I would have blushed in embarrassment. That explained the random emotions that didn't always make sense; staying calm when I knew I was angry, suddenly getting edgy when I could see no point in doing so…

"That explains a lot," I muttered in response. Edward laughed quietly, and I had to wonder if he ever acted like a normal person. If he wanted to laugh, he could have just laughed…louder than that at least.

Silence passed over us again, though I could hear my broken coven listening in; they were both tense, not sure if I would suddenly lose control. Jade's hands were balled up into fists.

I waited for Edward to say something else, but he didn't, and it was starting to get a little awkward. Finally I sighed and looked over at him impatiently. "So what's up?" I asked. The corners of Edward's lips turned up as though he were trying to suppress a smile.

"Nothing really, I just decided to sit with you." I tensed, not sure what to say to that. We sat in an awkward silence, neither one of us sure what to say next. My brother and Crin were still listening in, and I threw them a pleading look. Well, more specifically Crin; she knew how to start a conversation without making it sound awkward.

Crin figured the message out perfectly clear. She sighed and kissed Jade quickly before wiggling out of his arms. She was by my side in a second, smiling sweetly. Edward watched her warily, probably remembering how she destroyed his curtains. I couldn't help but giggle, which helped lighten the mood.

"Edward, may I ask you a question?" Crin asked, leaning against the table, her ringlets bobbing around her face. Edward scrutinized her expression for a moment.

"Only if you let me ask a question in return," He finally answered cautiously. I groaned, leaning back against the chair. Both Crin and Edward ignored me. It seemed like ever since we'd arrived, we'd been revealing too much information.

Crin smiled warmly, "Of course." I shook my head in disproval, but once again they ignored me. One moment Crin was standing next to me, the next she was sitting in the chair across from us, a smile on her face with her head resting on her palms, supported by her elbows. "What was it like to fall in love with a human?" Crin asked.

Edward was silent. I wondered if he regretted making a deal with her now that he knew the question. I looked over at him, aware of my brother listening in. His face was composed carefully, hard as a statue; the only thing that gave away his true feelings was the agonized look in his eyes.

"That's hard for me to talk about…" He looked at me, then at Jade, and sighed, shaking his head. "But I promised, so I suppose I have to." He looked directly at Crin, though I didn't think he was really addressing her specifically. It seemed like he was speaking to all three of us. "Your mother was my _la tua cantante_." He didn't need to explain what that was to us. We knew it was the name given when a human's blood was so attractive that the blood practically sang for us. Meaning my mother smelled appetizing to him. I shuddered at the thought of her becoming dinner to another Vampire.

"It wasn't easy suppressing the overwhelming desire to…feed," he had a hard time choking the word out, and when he did, all four of us flinched, "But I didn't. I was curious as to why I couldn't read her mind. So I cautiously tried to get into her head, asking her questions…

"But she was a danger magnet. Anything that could have gone wrong did. I saved her from being crushed by a van and two blood thirsty Vampires. She had a fascination of werewolves, and one of them fell in love with her as well. But in the end she chose me, and she eventually convinced me to turn her into a Vampire. But she had to marry me first." He grinned triumphantly.

"It was easy to love her. She wasn't like other mortals. The only thing that frustrated me was that I couldn't read what was really on her mind. It was hard to suppress my desires, knowing that if I went through with them, I could accidentally…kill her. I had to resist the urge to just snatch her away, to hide her from everything that sought to harm her." His calm expression turned into agony. "But I failed at that…I let my guard down…and I didn't think to check with the Volturi. They wanted her; they saw the potential in her, even before she was a Vampire…that should have been the first place I checked."

Silence followed. The only sounds were the animals scurrying in the woods surrounding the house. In the distance a wolf howled, sounding sorrowful…like it had lost everything. Like Edward. Crin seemed at a loss for words, as did I. It was Jade who spoke up.

"But she had us, and we found you, and now we can rescue her…together. So not everything is bad, right? There's still hope. _Dum vita est, spes est._" I smiled. It meant, _where there is life, there is hope_. Edward must have known what it meant; if he didn't he didn't say anything.

He only smiled crookedly, thought the gesture didn't quite touch his eyes. He was still upset. I didn't think anything we did or said would change that. Not till we had our mother back, at least.

"It's my turn to ask," Edward suddenly changed the subject, snapping me out of my contemplation. I was suddenly wary again; uncomfortable about sharing the secrets our broken coven had kept with us all this time. "It's more of a question for all three of you." He admitted sheepishly.

"That wasn't part of the deal." I protested, a glare forming on my face. I definitely didn't like this idea.

"I need to know, and I answered a question that I thought all three of you needed to know. Besides, you promised you'd answer a question." I growled. He had shared personal information with us…

"Fine, what's the stupid question?" I growled, crossing my arms over my chest. The corners of his lips turned up, holding back laughter.

"I want to know what it was like for you in the Volturi." I stopped breathing, my body tensing. It was the exact subject I didn't want to expand upon.

"That isn't a question," I whispered. Edward looked at me skeptically. I had to answer.

"Well…for me…it was like being in a nightmare. Nothing ever jumped out and yelled 'boo' or anything. We aren't attracted to human blood. Jade and I could be in a room full of bleeding humans, and we wouldn't even be tempted to taste. At first, we mostly ate human food, with a couple of helpings of the bear blood that the hunters brought back for my mother. I could tell that mom didn't like having to be brought blood; she wanted to hunt for herself.

"But it was hard, hearing the screams of humans as they died from within the room we were never allowed to set foot in. Mother adamantly warned us to stay away from the room that Aro, Caius, and Marcus usually resided in. Sometimes, they would visit us. Marcus never was interested, and Caius was always irritated. Aro was the curious one. He was the one who wanted mother to stay. He wanted to explore her powers, find her limitations, help her control those powers. All it did was wear mom out. It was like they were sucking energy from her. Sometimes she would be so exhausted that Crin would take care of us. There were always Vampires who were curious, wanting to meet the children who were Vampire's from birth, never experiencing the pain they had felt. Crin and mom both kept us away from them. Mom was terrified that we would be taken from her. When we weren't under her watch or Crin's, she would panic till she found us again.

"We received private education, since Italy is a sunny place so we never attended a public school. Usually it was from Crin, since she was the only Vampire my mother really trusted. Believe it or not, Crin's actually pretty intelligent when she's not acting like she's in her own little world.

"Out of all of the Vampires that lived with the Volturi, Jane was the worst. She always tried to use her powers against Jade and I, waiting for the day it would actually work. She tried on mom too, but she was unsuccessful. Mom always got really upset, and a couple times they got into a fight, which was broken up by Aro or Crin. I couldn't ever picture my mother in a fight, so to see it in action traumatized me.

"We could sleep too. We were Vampires, but we had a lot of human traits before we turned eighteen. But we still glittered in the sun light, and we still had venom coated, razor-sharp teeth.

"When we were forced to leave our mother…that was when it was the worst." I couldn't go on. I couldn't re-tell that dark time…my dark ages. Edward kept a composed face, but his eyes were angry. He wasn't angry with me; I knew that, he was angry with the Volturi, infuriated that they would harm his wife and children.

Jade smiled and told his story without much of a pause between mine. "Liz tends to dwell upon the negative sometimes. Mom loved us more than anything, and would have given her life to save ours if it ever came down to it. Plus, Jane isn't prepared to fight hand to hand combat. She relies too much on her powers. Mom could have easily taken her down if they hadn't been interrupted. Perhaps she will someday.

"But that's not the point. I've always been over protective of those I love. I wanted to protect mom instead of her having to protect us. I wanted to protect my sister, and Crin. So I tried to learn by watching and listening to stories. And now…well, I'm not the best, but I'm pretty good." He grinned and I rolled my eyes. Edward had to hold back laughter again.

"I didn't fall in love with Crin till after we'd been separated from mom for about a year. We knew mom would have approved." He smiled and I made a face. Boys.

Crin continued seconds after wards. "I was an orphan when the Volturi found me. I always seemed to know the environment around me, and they thought I would be useful. So I was turned into a Vampire. I control the elements around me. I can change the weather if I wanted to. The Volturi found that power very useful, and I often went on missions that involved traveling to sunny places. So I'm pretty sure the Volturi are pissed that I left." Crin giggled, obviously amused. "But I'd rather settle down anyways. But that won't happen till the whole situation with the Volturi gets worked out."

I sighed. "Will it ever get solved?" I muttered, not really asking anyone specifically. Edward frowned thoughtfully, taking my question seriously.

"I think it will. Once we get Bella back, eventually Marcus and Caius will convince Aro to give up and move on. They have bigger things to deal with other than some pesky, immortal teenage Vampires. Technically you haven't done anything against the rules, and neither has Bella…well, as far as I know. So technically they'll have to give up once they have no leverage." Jade and I stared at him in disbelief. Was it really that simple? Well, besides the whole rescuing part I mean.

"What do you think Crin?" Jade asked, not looking away from Edwards carefully composed expression.

"He's right. They won't have a hostage, and Marcus and Caius will get bored and convince Aro to give up." Crin answered confidently.

Jade nodded silently, his eyes locked with Edward's. A moment of silence passed before Alice danced into the room, a grim expression plastered to her face.

"They're here." She calmly stated.

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**Volturra Italy;**

Bella stared out the castle window at the crowds that squished into narrow, ancient streets below. She pressed an ice cold hand against the warm glass, and the sunlight that reflected through glittered off her skin, casting rainbows around the room and into the street below. Bella quickly receded her hand just before the humans below located the source. Not that they could see who she was or what she was, since she was on the top floor of the castle.

"Marcus and Caius are so negative!" Aro complained behind her. Bella wasn't paying attention to him, so she could only nod her head and pretend like she was listening. Aro probably knew that she wasn't listening, but he didn't seem to care. He just droned on without stopping to take an unnecessary breath. Unlike most Vampires, Aro never actually breathed. "I mean, I understand why; their pasts aren't very positive….but what Vampire does have a positive past?"

Bella turned her head to look at Aro skeptically. Aro's concerned, frail features twisted into a grin. "Except you, of course."

Bella frowned, muttering quietly under her breath, "Not lately." Aro picked up her muttering nonetheless. He sighed and sat in a chair.

"Speaking of which…" he started, his tone serious. Bella listen intently, silently praying that whatever Aro said meant good news for her…hopefully news that resulted in reuniting with her children and Edward.

Bella waited for Aro to continued, but he didn't continue. "So what's the real reason for this visit, Aro? Are you going to tell me more news of my children? Tell me, how close are you to kidnapping them?" Bella laughed bitterly, her tone thick with sarcasm.

Aro scrutinized her expression with his piercing red eyes, his mouth opening, searching for the right words. "Bella," he spoke slowly, "we…haven't found them." He finally finished, speaking slower than he needed to. Bella stared at him disbelievingly. She'd been with the Volturi for only twenty five years, but she knew Aro better than anyone else in the Volturi.

She had seen every thought Aro had ever had, after all.

When she had first arrived, she couldn't control her power; to temporarily steal others powers. Any time she touched another Vampire with an extra ability, she would steal it without intention. Sometimes it lasted for a second, but most of the time it would last for weeks.

Bella smiled softly as she remembered the uneasy look on Edward's face when he couldn't read the minds around him. Of course, he hadn't been like Alice, who would practically have a heart attack over her missing powers. Jasper was the only one who would happily let her steal his powers…

Bella tried to ignore the wave of pain that coursed through her. She couldn't breathe. Luckily she didn't need to.

Of course she'd come a long way since her kidnapping. She could control her powers. She no longer stole another Vampire's powers unless she wanted to, and she could control how long she used them. She'd never been able to handle more than one power at a time and she still required the touch of the Vampire to steal the powers, so she couldn't just randomly look at another Vampire and decide to steal their powers. Life wasn't that simple.

Bella got up from the window seat casually, slowly walking towards Aro. "You haven't found them, huh?" She asked, trying to keep her voice casual. Unlike her, Aro didn't know her as well as Edward did, since he still couldn't read her mind.

Aro stood and casually walked to the other side of the room, confirming that he knew Bella was up to something. Whatever it was that he was hiding, it was definitely something that he didn't want her to know. "No, I regret to inform you that we haven't. They split up." Panic overwhelmed Bella immediately, and Aro saw it. "No, your kids didn't split up; they're still with each other as far as we know. But the boy that joined them, you heard about that right? He split from the group. Ironically, he ended up in Forks…"

Bella frowned and turned away. "Whatever, I don't want to hear any more about this. All I want is my family back. Leave me alone." Bella growled. Aro was silent for a moment, but then laughed quietly.

"You really are a mystery Bella. A very intriguing one." Bella said nothing in reply, only listened as Aro walked almost silently away.

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**I am SOOOO SORRY for the longer update than usual! But hey, its a long chapter. But I was planning to write more, but then I have other things to write...you have to remember, I write like seven things at once. And I've had a lot of hw, and I've been trying to get Shakespeare down...not as easy as it sounds, especially when you have to explain, say who spoke the quote, and who they're speaking to. I personally think Romeo and Juliet is better than Macbeth now. And Hamlets just insane. But I like that play too.**

**So I'll update ASAP!!!!!! There weren't any questions this time, but I did use some italian from a review. It fit so well, that I had to use it, so thank you to that reviewer!**

**LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! REVIEW!!!!!**

**Alice**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

We followed Alice into the family room where the others were, all of us tense. Carlisle stood motionless by the door, frowning at the ground and Esme stood on the other side, casting a worried look at the door. Emmett held Rosalie's hand on the couch, both of them staring out the windows with blank expressions. Alice immediately skipped to Jaspers side, taking his hand firmly in hers. I felt a pang of envy, wishing once again that Royce were here holding my hand as well…it was a selfish desire, but one I wanted with all that was left of my dead heart. 

Jasper cast a glance at me, curiosity glittering in his eyes. He probably felt the envy I was feeling, and suddenly I was glad that Jade was using his powers; if he hadn't been, Edward would have heard the curious questions that were probably floating about Jasper's mind and confronted me later….if there would be a later. 

"They'll be here in about thirty seconds." Alice whispered quickly. No one moved no one made a sound; we all fixed our attention on the front door. I wondered what was going to happen. Would we be forced to go back to the Volturi? Maybe our plan was useless…maybe they DID bring reinforcements…

Crin grasped my hand and squeezed it for reassurance. I tried to smile, but I miserably failed; I knew I should be having more faith in her judgment, since if anyone knew what the Volturi would decide it would have been her, but I couldn't. 

Jane I nearly jumped when the doorbell rang. I wanted to say something to stop him, but Carlisle opened the door before I could say anything. There stood Jane and Felix staring at us in their casual, tourist outfits. Seeing Felix in Bermuda shorts, a Hawaiian t-shirt and flip flops, I almost burst into laughter. Jane wore the matching feminine outfit. "Nice outfits," I snickered, ignoring everyone's side-ways glances towards me. Jane smiled, but it didn't touch her blood-red eyes. 

"Why thank you Elizabeth, it's nice to know that we're fitting in." Her child-like voice was equally filled with sarcasm. Jane took a moment to survey the house before she went on, "It seems your living conditions have improved recently. Congratulations." I wasn't entirely sure why she was congratulating us, so I settled on assuming she was using sarcasm again. 

Felix grinned, showing off a perfect set of white teeth. "You've grown up a bit; you're no longer the silly children we used to chase around. We were impressed with your latest stunt. Splitting up like that was a brilliant plan, and for a while you had us completely fooled," he paused, his grin turning into a thoughtful frown, "unfortunately you ran into someone we were keeping watch over, and Jade's power conveniently made it so that we could no longer find them. Then, BINGO! We knew where you were exactly!" Felix scanned the room with his eyes muttering, "And now here we are." 

Jane sighed irritably, and everyone – except she and Felix—tensed. I don't know why or how, but somehow we all knew that small talk was over. Adrenaline coursed through me…well, I'm not exactly sure what it was, since I wasn't entirely sure if Vampire's could get adrenaline on account of the whole technically-dead thing. We don't have blood…so why would we have adrenaline? Anyway, I watched Jane cross into the middle of the room. I could feel Jade positioning himself so that he was in front of Crin, and I instinctively shifted as well, ignoring Felix's gaze. He always did creep me out…

She stopped in the center of the room, looking at Edward's angry expression. Somehow I'd forgotten his presence as soon as they'd walked through the door. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? I could see his fists and jaws clenched, his golden eyes tight, trying to conceal emotion. Jane smiled. "You do know about _them_, don't you? About _Bella_?" Edward replied by narrowing his eyes, his expression turning dark. 

I sighed. "Of course he knows. And would you please stop talking about us like we're not even here?" Jane frowned and her true emotions flooded into her eyes for a moment; anger, frustration, and longing – which was probably torture. But Jane quickly regained her composure. She smiled sarcastically. 

"My apologies," She turned back to Edward, her eyes narrowed, her sarcastic smile morphing into a mocking grin. "Now what are you all going to do? You know were Bella is…for now. But enough about that, what about now? We have you surrounded, you know." 

Crin started giggling, and Jane's eyes widened with surprise before they narrowed, hatred bubbling in them. "Nice to see you again, _Crin_. Aro sends his regards, and extends a very…generous invitation to rejoin our family again." Jane spat. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Crin smile and step in front of Jade, ignoring his warning growl. 

"You'll have to thank him for me, but unfortunately I cannot accept that invitation." Crin's grin hardened, "Besides, I highly doubt you _want_ me back Jane. Even before my betrayal, you never quite liked me." 

"Well, you're right; I don't want you back…frankly I don't want any of you back." Jane spat at all three of us, moving forward a bit. 

All of us but Crin tensed, watching Jane, waiting for her next move. "And I could really care less about what you think of us Jane. But I do find it amusing. We aren't surrounded. I've been with the Volturi long enough to know that you wouldn't try something so reckless this close to civilization. So you can't fool us with that." 

Jane's frown deepened. "Then we could…"

"Threaten us by attacking us? I don't think so. Jade's power is nullifying your powers, so you can't use anything that will harm us mentally." Crin smiled brightly…it was almost blinding. 

Jane's mouth pressed into a tight line, and her gaze shifted quickly to Felix. Felix nodded and in the next moment, he was crouching. He probably would have attacked if the whole Cullen family hadn't started growling in warning. Emmett's arms flexed as he leaned forward, his eyes locked on Felix. Jade pulled Crin behind him and he, Edward and I crouched, growling fierce, deadly growls. Crin did nothing. She was completely relaxed, a smile no longer on her face. She crossed her arms, her golden eyes never leaving Jane. 

"You can't win now, Jane. You know that. We're too big of a coven for just the three of you. We have just as much experience as you do; it would be suicide to try to fight us now. So stop wasting your time; we're aware that you're watching us, so leave now and no one has to get hurt." 

Jane glared at Crin, but her gaze slowly shifted to Jade and I. "They don't have experience." She growled. 

Before anyone knew what was happening, a white fist shot out towards her. It would have nicked her in the jaw if she hadn't dodged. Edward crouched between her and us, growling maliciously, heaving hard. Jane was even paler than normal for a second before she burst out laughing. "How sweet, a father trying to protect his children!" She cooed. 

"Jane, I advise you to leave now before anything happens. Just because Jade and Liz aren't as experienced as the rest of us, it doesn't mean that you won't have to go through us to get to them. As long as they wish to be living with us, they will be protected." Carlisle calmly said, opening the door. "Please leave." 

Jane stopped laughing, staring at each one of us. When he gaze met with Felix's – who was still crouched—she nodded and started to head for the door. Felix followed after her, and just before Carlisle closed the door, Felix turned. "This isn't over, and it won't be till one of us wins." He looked at Carlisle. "You do know that taking them under your roof will cause a war to break out, right? As long as Aro wants them we'll always be battling; maybe not full blown killing, but still." For a moment Felix looked like he was pleading; it was almost as though he didn't want a war to happen. 

I considered that for a moment. The Volturi were strong and big…but with all of us, especially with Crin, we were just about the only threat to them. If we went to war with the Volturi, it would be a close call. 

I shivered just thinking about it. 

"I know, but…" Carlisle glanced at us for a second before quickly turning back to Felix. "It's worth it." Felix glanced at us as well before sighing and walking out the door. 

Just before Carlisle closed the door I heard Felix murmur, "So be it." 

For a long moment the tension lasted. Everyone had fallen silent except for Edward, who remained in his crouched position, growling at the door as though he were expecting for the whole Volturi to come marching into the living room prepared for battle. 

"Edward, relax." Carlisle ordered in a soothing voice, stepping toward his son a bit. Edward didn't relax, but his growling became ravenous. Carlisle sighed and glanced at Esme, who stared blankly at the wall. I kept my gaze fixed on Edward, and I couldn't help but wonder if he realized that Jane and Felix had left. 

"Edward," I cautiously said, taking a step forward, "you need to calm down. Jane and Felix left." Edward's growling faded slowly till it was completely gone. The silence that filled the room was deafening, and it seemed even the animals around the house were silent, holding their breath, waiting for Edward's next move just as the rest of us were. 

Finally Edward relaxed and stood up straight. "Yea, I suppose…I should save my energy, huh?" He murmured, turning to look back at me. I could feel the tension release as soon as he spoke. I tried to smile but as usual I miserably failed. 

"Yea, you should." Was all I could come up with. I know, brilliant, inspiring speech, huh? No words of encouragement, no smart-aleck comment that brightened the mood…just "Yea, you should." Lame. 

But no one mentioned my lack of an inspiring speech much to my pleasure. Instead, they all broke out into conversation. I could hear Jade asking Crin if she was alright, which was ridiculous because there hadn't been any physical fighting. Crin giggled and assured him she was alright, and – much to my distaste—Jade pulled her into his arms, his chin resting on her head…it was a very gooey, lovey-dovey scene. 

Rosalie was leaning against Emmett – who was once again leaning against the couch – and Alice was holding Jaspers hand, speaking rapidly to him. Carlisle had Esme in his arms and was rubbing her back soothingly. 

The only people who didn't have someone to hold were Edward and I. We stood out like a sore thumb. 

My feelings were starting to build up. Crin often told me how much my mother would over-react when she felt panicked. I suppose that my mother and I are alike in that way; I tend to over react at times. 

Like now. 

I was trying not to over react of course, but my breathing was becoming staggered and rapid. I thought about just not breathing at all, but I couldn't bring myself to stop. 

They mentioned Royce. Of course they implied they knew about him…I hadn't heard from him in what seemed like years…where was he? A sickening thought invaded my head, one that I could have done without. I was glad that even without Jade's power, Edward would never be able to look into my mind. 

What if they'd captured Royce? 

No, I would know…

But what if he was in danger? Where was Royce? I needed Royce. I needed him now more than ever…heck, I'd needed him the past couple days. I needed him when we first ran into the Cullen family, I needed him when I found out that Edward was my father, I needed him through the Jane-and-Felix ordeal…

I needed him to hold me. 

I suppose that in some way the idea of me not being the only one left out was comforting. I could see that Edward was just as upset as I was. I could tell that he wanted to be holding my mom…

That's when Felix's warning popped into my head. _"You do know that taking them under your roof will cause a war to break out, right? As long as Aro wants them we'll always be battling; maybe not full blown killing, but still." _

More panic rose within me as I looked away from Edward to everyone around me. I only really knew Jade – well, he was my brother – and Crin, but I was beginning to like the others. Alice and Crin fit together like two pieces of a puzzle and Jade seemed to enjoy Edward's brothers. Carlisle and Esme were like second parents to me. Rosalie was…well, I wasn't quite sure what Rosalie was to me or my family, but whatever. 

And Edward…

I didn't know much about Edward. But…he _was_ my biological father whether I liked it or not. And though things were really awkward between us…

Deep down I still wanted to get to know him.

The point was, though I didn't know these people as much as I knew my family –besides Edward – I still didn't want for them to sacrifice themselves for us…for our own problems. 

"I don't understand," I blurted out before I thought about what I was saying. Jasper didn't seem surprised by my sudden outburst, and I was thankful that he was keeping quiet about my feelings. The rest of the Cullens fell silent and stared at me, waiting for what I was about to say next. 

"I mean…you know, about what Felix said." I looked at Crin. "You don't really think the Volturi will go to _war_ with them for protecting us, do you? Isn't that a little…far fetched?" Crin sighed, looking away from me. The answer was clear; yes, yes they would. It didn't matter if there was a logical explanation for it; the only reason was because they could. 

I growled, looking down at the wooden floor. "That's so stupid. I mean…it's stupider than stupid….I don't even know if that makes any sense! I can't think of a word that shows how retarded their little war would be! I don't think it even exists!" 

Jade laughed, though there was no humor to it. "That's saying something; she once got bored and memorized the entire dictionary…in three different languages." 

I ignored my obnoxious brother. "I mean, seriously! Why us? Okay, our mom had unusual powers and she miraculously gave birth to us after she'd been a Vampire for who knows how long…don't tell me how long!" I snapped at Edward, who looked taken aback. I don't know if he was going to tell me, and if he wasn't then…well, that was pretty embarrassing. 

"For all we know it could have been Edward's fault that we were created!" I continued. I stifled the laughter that was building up when everyone but me gave Edward a funny look. "I mean, I'm not saying that's a bad thing…but we have a freaking WAR on our hands!" Frustration started to pour out of me, and though I wanted to punch something, I resisted. I didn't want to break anything in Esme's home. 

I was breathing hard, but no one interrupted me. "Look, all I'm saying is…maybe this isn't working out. If the Volturi are going to be this ridiculous about this, then maybe we should head out…"

"NO!" Edward roared, and suddenly he was in my face, holding my shoulders with an iron grip. My eyes widened and I waited for him to say more. 

When he didn't say anything, I started to explain, trying to reason with him. "Edward, I never said forever. Just for the time being…just until the Volturi no longer want us. I really don't want for any of you to get hurt…you all know that if you went up against the Volturi you wouldn't get out alive without sacrifice." 

Edward growled, his grip tightening. I winced, and for the first time in a long time, I felt physical pain. "No, absolutely not. Don't you dare leave this house with a stupid reason like that!" I didn't see how my reason was stupid, but I felt that if I said that, I would only provoke him more. 

So instead I asked, "Why?" I gave him the most determined expression that I could give, and when I did his eyes widened and his grip loosened. 

"Because…" he whispered, then hesitated, searching my face with his eyes. "Because I can't lose you or your brother." 

His words surprised me and whatever I was about to say flew out of my head. We stared at each other for a long time. Finally after what seemed like a millennia of silence, Esme silently walked to Edward and placed her hands over his. Reluctantly, Edward released me, and I stumbled back. I was only free for a couple moments before Esme wrapped her arms around me. 

"You really are your mother's daughter!" she laughed quietly, her arms tightening around me. "Listen Liz, Jade…" Crin cleared her throat and Esme laughed. "And you too Crin, we need you here with us. You have no idea what you brought back to us. Before you came, all of us, especially Edward, were devastated by the loss of your mother. But when you came back, you restored hope to us. We may not all survive what happens later on, but what's important now is that we stick together and to enjoy what we have now, and look forward to what we'll have later. If you leave us now, bringing Bella back will be impossible." 

I considered her words. It was true; Edward had seemed to liven up since we arrived. I mean, he was still hesitant and awkward, but he was much more animated than he used to be. And the whole stuff about now and about my mom…that sounded alright as well. 

"Okay," I sighed, "we'll stay." 

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I should have left. I would have left if I'd known that we'd have to do this. This was worse than facing the whole Volturi! 

I stared at myself in the floor-length mirror, looking over my outfit. I'd been uneasy when Alice and Crin dragged us to the mall miles and miles away from the little town of Angoon. I should have known that this was lurking in my future. 

High school. 

I tried to tell Esme and Carlisle that we'd had private tutoring in Volturra, but they insisted that it would look strange if three teenagers weren't attending school even though they were staying for an extended period of time. I tried to insist that we'd stay inside the house, but they laughed and said, "We highly doubt you'll want to stay inside for two weeks. It's only a couple weeks before we go storm Volturra."

So now here I was, staring at myself in the mirror. I'd put a bit of cover-up under my eye-lids to cover the bruise-like spots beneath them and had applied a bit of mascara. The make-up was fine, since even though I didn't need it, I still liked it. 

But the whole dressing warmly thing? Not so much. You see, I don't _need_ to dress warmly! I'm a _Vampire_, and if you haven't gotten the drift yet, I don't need to wear warm clothes! Heck, I could walk outside in a bikini and I wouldn't feel a thing! Not that I would, but still! 

I was allowed to wear jeans, and that made me happy. I wore my new light blue jeans that matched my white sweater and my light blue jacket…you know the jackets with the fake fur on it? Yea, one of those. Those big, poofy jackets. It's not like I dislike the jackets, but I still think its being wasted on me, because, once again, I am a freaking _**Vampire**_! Doesn't ANYONE understand this?

Well, apparently not. I didn't zip the jacket up, and I refused to do so. Nothing Esme or Carlisle said could get me to zip it up. If anyone asked, I'd tell them to shove it and then I'd walk away. I know, I'm so nice, aren't I?

Crin suddenly appeared at my side; either she was acquiring powers that enabled her to pop up wherever she wanted, or I was just too wrapped up in my own bitter thoughts. She placed her hands firmly on my shoulders. "We're leaving now…and please; PLEASE don't make a fool of yourself." 

I sighed irritably but nodded in response. 

I followed Crin out to the garage were Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jade waited. "So what's the ridding situation?" Crin asked as soon as we reached the little group.

Rosalie gave us a bored look and replied, "We're taking Edward's Volvo while you three take the BMW. It's a little flashier, but whatever. Make up an excuse, saying that your parents were rich and when they died, they left you with their car." She paused and glared at Crin. "Don't mess up my BMW." 

Crin smiled happily. "Don't worry, we won't!" 

Here's the apparent story that we're using; we're siblings. Crin is a junior and Jade and I are both seniors. Jade and I are obviously twins, so that part of the story is true. Our parents died a month ago in a tragic car accident. Since Jade and I are both eighteen, we have our own little house out I the woods somewhere which was paid for with the money our parents left for us. 

Oh, did I mention we're supposed to get a job as well? Fun, huh? 

Not. 

But whatever. Rosalie tossed Crin the keys and we headed toward the BMW, but just as I reached the back door – Jade was being a butt and wouldn't let me sit in the front passenger seat – I saw the motorcycle out of the corner of my eye. I gasped and turned to it, walking slowly toward it as though if I made a wrong move, it would suddenly drive off and never be seen again. 

As soon as I reached it, I ran a hand over its handle and seat. "It's so…pretty…" I murmured, my hands tightening on the handles. I slowly turned my head to look at the others without letting go of the motorcycle. The Cullens were all staring at me and Jade was headed towards me. Crin had already climbed into the car and was now turning it on. "Could I drive this instead?" I pleaded, my eyes widening into puppy eyes. Before the Cullens could answer, Jade had me by my waist and was picking me up. I immediately let go of the handles since I didn't want to knock it over by holding onto it while he dragged me away. 

"No, not to school Liz," Jade sighed as he opened the car door and plopped me inside. 

I glared at him and tried to get out of the car. "You're not the boss of me just because your five minutes older, _brother_." I spat mockingly. Jade rolled his eyes, obviously deciding to ignore me and turned to the Cullens. 

"Sorry, while we were on the run a couple years ago, she got a hold of a motorcycle and since then she's been begging for one. You'll probably hear something about it tonight or right after school." Jade smiled warmly and I growled at him. Like I said; stupid, arrogant, older brothers. 

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I hate high school. I hate high school. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I don't even have to get out of the car to know that I hate it already. 

Why? Well, first of all, I can't ride a motorcycle to school; I've got to ride with my brother and his mate in the same car! Then as soon as they park the car outside the principle's office/portable, they start kissing each other. Yea, I know what everyone is thinking; you're just upset because you can't kiss Royce like that. Well, you're right…partly. Think about it; how many of you have older siblings? Would you like to be stuck in a car with them making out in front of you? Well, if you have some sort of sanity, I hope you wouldn't want to see that. 

Secondly, when I talked to Edward last night, he claimed the school was small and that we wouldn't have to deal with crowds. Um…I don't know what his definition of 'small' is, but it must be WAY different than mine. My definition of 'small' is thirty five people. Yea…there are way more than thirty five people. Sure, the building is small, but there are enough students attending this school that there is a possible chance of a crowd. 

No, I don't have issues with people – I know shocker right? Most Vampires have issues with crowds because of their blood-lust. I don't have a blood-lust…at least not for people. You see, I developed a habit of trying to stay away from major crowds. It feels weird to mingle with humans. Its not that I don't trust them, because I'm pretty sure the Volturi wouldn't have a human spy, it's just that…it's weird. You know the feeling, right? 

Thirdly, apparently we have to get our schedules signed. I know, not a big deal. But that gives teachers a chance to humiliate you by making you introduce yourselves to the whole classroom. 

You know, I've always loved acting. It's a natural thing to me; my mom isn't a very good actor, so I suppose I got it from Edward. But Jade got his attitude from my mom's side. Sure, he's definitely different than my mother, but he hates crowds even more than I do. And he's not the best actor. He can pull it off for a bunch of high school students, but he's just…shy. I guess that's a good way to put it. 

If we had the same classes together, I could probably get him out of introducing himself by coming up with some far-fetched story, but I don't have any classes with him. So he's on his own…well, he and Crin have Chemistry together, so I could get Crin to do it for me…

Anyway, we chose a new parking spot after we got our schedules and cut the engine. Crin and Jade turned to each other, looking deep into each others eyes while leaning closer… 

"That's it, I'm out of here!" I growled, kicking the door open and jumping out of the car before they could answer. I was NOT going to sit through another make-out session. I know they're married in the Vampire sense of marriage, but PLEASE! Do they have to do that in public? I would probably have to remind them to cut the relationship stuff when we got to the crowds. They were supposed to be siblings, not boyfriend-girlfriend. 

I made my way towards the sidewalk, gracefully pushing my way past the crowds of students making their way towards their classes. I could feel eyes on me, but I chose to ignore them. Hey, just because the school wasn't as small as I would have liked, doesn't mean that it's not small enough for new comers to pass un-noticed. 

After a couple minutes of wandering around aimlessly, I sighed and plopped myself on a bench. Some people stared as they passed, probably wondering why a girl in jeans was sitting down on a bench in the middle of the Alaskan winter. Once again, I'm a Vampire who doesn't get bothered by trivial things such as air temperature. But I couldn't tell that to them, because they'd either a) avoid me – not a bad option – b) nod and call the white-coats—not a very good option. 

I sighed, watching my breath turn to white mist. I smiled, remembering the first time I'd been out in the snow. I'd started to blow air out and squeal; "Look Jade, I'm a dragon!" it was kind of sad for a sixteen year old, but hey, I'd never seen snow before that point! Well, not in real life. It didn't snow in Volturra. 

"Hey, where's your brother?" Edward's smooth, silky voice startled me out of my thoughts. I stared up at him blankly for a moment before I answered. 

"Probably making out with Crin." Edward frowned in disproval, but said nothing about it. 

"It's cold out here; why don't you come into the cafeteria where its warm?" Edward asked, sitting down beside me. I don't recall inviting him to sit down with me, but whatever. 

I looked out at the parking lot, refusing to look at him. "I bet everyone else is in there, that's why." 

"They are." Edward answered, sounding slightly amused. 

"Well, then I'm definitely not going in there." 

"You don't like people."

"No, I do like people, its just natural for me to try to avoid big crowds."

"It's not a big crowd."

"Our definitions of 'small' are completely different."

"And what is your definition?"

"Thirty five."

"Oh,"

I let my gaze shift over to where Edward sat. He was no longer looking at me, but was now looking up at the sky, a thoughtful expression plastered on his face. I frowned. It seemed that Edward liked to think over the things we said…which was strange. Mom and Crin were the only other people that took what Jade and I said into consideration. Aro, Caius, and Marcus thought we were too young and that they were always right. Other Vampire's were either too busy talking about how we were extraordinary because we were born Vampires or they just didn't care. It felt…good to be listened to seriously. I liked it when mom listened to us seriously, so I guess I liked the fact that Edward, my biological father, did the same. 

"Hey guys," Jade called suddenly. Both Edward and I looked over at him. He was running gracefully at human speed towards us, a grin plastered onto his face. I smiled back at him and scooted closer to Edward to give Jade room to sit. 

Jade sat down next to me and leaned back against the bench, his hands running through his thick, snow-coated black hair. I frowned. "Did you and Crin get into a snow ball fight?" I asked suspiciously. Jade grinned and nodded, and I sighed irritably. 

A few seconds later, the warning bell rang and all three of us stood up. "I guess I'll see you at lunch Jade…wait a second, where's Crin?" I asked, my eyes scanning the parking lot. 

Jade shrugged. "Dunno, she said she had something to take care of…" 

My eye's widened. "She didn't tell you what that was, did she?" Jade shook his head. "Oh, crap." 

Suddenly Crin bolted into our small group, giggling furiously. "Where were you?" I asked, even though I knew exactly what she'd been doing. 

"Hide me!" Crin squealed, ducking behind Jade. I raised my eyebrows and scanned the parking lot again. Nothing there. 

"Come on Crin, stop playing around. We have to get to homeroom!" I started to head towards the portable classrooms, but just as we neared the portables, a red-haired human dashed towards us. 

"YOU!" she cried, pointing at Crin. Crin eepped and jumped back behind Jade, giggling like a little school girl. The girl ran towards us without slowing down, and just before she bumped into me, I grabbed her shoulders firmly. The girl struggled for a moment before finally giving up, looking up at me furiously, her jaw clenched. 

"You know," I said, "it's not very nice to chase after complete strangers like that. People may think you're rude." The girl rolled her eyes and pointed at Crin. 

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" she cried loudly. "SHE…" 

"You don't need to yell so loud, we're right here, we can hear you clearly." I growled and tightened my grip on her shoulders slightly. 

She winced, but continued on. "She's the one who kills innocent little animals!" I sighed; I knew this was bound to happen sometime. Crin and her 'eating habits'… 

"Look, I can assure you that Crin hasn't killed any little animals…or any animals for that matter…maybe roaches, but not little animals." I assured her, patting her shoulders and releasing her. From behind me, I heard Crin say, "Tee hee!" I ignored her. 

The red-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "But I saw it! She captured a poor little squirrel and sucked its blood out! AND THEN SHE JUST LEFT IT THERE!! WHAT KIND OF A PERSON ARE YOU?!" she yelled at Crin. 

"So let me get this straight," I said, trying to stay as calm as possible; it's at moments like these when I'm glad that I can act. "You think you saw Crin suck the blood out of a squirrel, and you chased her because of this?" I asked. You know, I think that sounded a bit ironic. Isn't the _Vampire_ supposed to chase the _human_? When did this concept change?

The girl nodded. "Except that I know I saw her." She added. 

I rolled my eyes. "Are you on medication? Did you take it this morning? And if you did, maybe you should think about getting an upgrade on it. Talk to your doctor about it." 

The girl clenched her fists and stomped her foot. "I am NOT crazy!" 

"I don't see why Crin would want to drink the blood of a squirrel." I pointed out logically, since…Vampires are anything BUT logic. 

"Because she's a Vampire, just like all of you." 

All three of us stiffened. I twisted my face into an expression that said, "Are-you-stupid?" How did she know we were Vampires? 

"We're not Vampires." I said calmly. "I really think you should go home and take a nap or something…maybe to go a physiatrist later on…or maybe before you take the nap." The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. 

"Oh please, I know what a real Vampire looks like and how to tell the difference between a good Vampire and a bad one." I stared at her blankly. This had to be some sort of hoax. 

"There are _good_ Vampires?" I asked skeptically. 

"Yes; good Vampires eat animals. They have gold eyes, pale skin, and incredibly good looks." She answered with a straight face. 

I looked around us; no one was around, and we had only a few minutes to get to class. 

"And you think we're Vampires?" I asked. 

"Yes." 

"That's stupid; who told you all that crap?"

"My boyfriend."

"What, does he think he's some Vampire slayer?"

"I guess you could say that." 

I sighed irritably. "And who is this 'vampire-slaying' boyfriend of yours? Does he need medical attention too?"

The girl glared at me. "No, he does NOT need medical attention! His name is Jacob, Jacob Black." 

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**DUN DUN DUN GASP!! LOL! I'm going to have fun with this...**

**So I know I haven't updated in like, forever. But I was busy, okay? I've got a ton of other stories to write and edit, so yea. But the angry review about how I was taking forever made me laugh. LAWL! **

**Okay, so...a lot of you had questions...but it was weird, because it was the same question; when is Royce going to come back? **

**Well, I can't really tell you that! It will give away information, but I did foreshadow it in this chapter! He'll come back before Bella comes back. Theres a reason why he hasn't called Liz yet. But DANG! I didn't think that people liked him so much! Its like every review I got was about Royce! I was laughing hysterically because I didn't realize that you all loved him so much...**

**But yea, he'll come back soon. **

**Anyways, with the cliff hanger I used, you all probably have a ton of questions. Oh, if its "Why does she know about Vampires?" or "Whats going to happen next?" or anything remotly simalar to that, I'll answer those right now. **

**I'm not telling you what happens next. I'll explain why she knows in the next chapter. If you really thought hard about it, its not all that hard to figure it out. **

**But anyways, feel free to send in questions!**

**REVIEW!**

**Alice**


	8. Chapter 8

I blinked at the girl who stood before me, her arms crossed over her chest and her green eyes narrowed as though she were expecting me to know who this "Jacob Black" person was. Which of course, I didn't so I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Look, it's great that you and your boyfriend have a sense of imagination. But you really need to not accuse people of being Vampires. It hurts people's feelings and makes them feel bad about themselves."

"How is being a Vampire supposed to make you feel bad about yourself?" she asked her voice sarcastic. I sighed. If she wanted to play the sarcasm card, then she would have to learn that two could play the same card. I gave her my best sarcastic glare.

"Would YOU like to be a blood-sucking, human killing creature of the night?"

"No."

"See my point? Now go to class…"

"But you don't prey on human blood." I inwardly groaned; what did it take to get this stupid human off my – or our, depending on how you looked at it – case?

"Look," I growled, "For the last time we are NOT Vampires! Do you understand that? We are in absolutely NO way Vampires! Just go to your class and LEAVE us alone, got it?"

"But…" She started. Oh my CRAP she was so…so…STUBORN!! How could she keep on INSISTING that we were Vampires? I mean, yes we were Vampires, but I was making it obvious that we weren't! What did she want me to do? Prove that I wasn't a Vampire? How do you do that?

"No buts! Go to class you have…" I glanced at Jade who lifted his wrist so that I could look at his watch, "about forty seconds left."

The girl's eyes widened and she muttered a VERY bad word as she turned her heals and dashed toward one of the other portables. "Make sure you wash your mouth out later!" I called after her, humor coating my voice. I turned back to Jade. "You'd better get going; it's not very commendable to be late to class on the first day."

Jade merely rolled his eyes. "Very funny little sister." Then he was gone, nowhere to be seen, as though he'd never really been there.

Show off. I looked back at Crin and Edward. "We should probably…" I paused and took a closer look at Edward. His eyes were wide with disbelief and at first I wondered if it were something that I'd done. But when I realized that he wasn't looking at either Crin or I, but instead in the direction of where the girl had disappeared to. 

"Edward? What's wrong?" I asked the thought of being tardy slipping my mind as concern overwhelmed me – wait, concern? Since when was I concerned for Edward? Okay, yea he was my dad, but still! He'd been nothing but odd since the moment I'd met him! Of course it was because of my mother's kidnapping that made him that way…but I still shouldn't be all that concerned about him! Here I was wondering if something was bothering him! I even wanted to comfort him! I was seriously starting to scare myself!

I concealed my inner turmoil and listened to what Edward would say next with a straight face. "Jacob Black…" Edward whispered in a low voice that was too low for mortals to hear.

My eyebrows furrowed. "Jacob Black? That crazy chick's boyfriend?" Well, she wasn't all that crazy, but that didn't need to be discussed at this point in time. Suddenly the bell rang its nasally sound carrying across the school grounds.

Edward grimaced and started to walk up the ramp towards the portable entrance. "I'll tell you later." He growled in a quiet voice as he opened the door. I highly doubt any of the mortals inside heard him, but when he said it I couldn't help but feel dejected. He didn't have to go to class, did he? He could have been late and talked to us about why Jacob Black seemed to be such a bother. I mean, who was Jacob Black? Why should he matter? But a more troublesome question that I wanted to ask Edward was…

…why did Jacob Black know about Vampires?

Crin nudged me. "You know, it's not very commendable to be late for class your first day." She repeated my words to her mate with a smug smile on her pretty angelic features, her always bright golden eyes – due to her snacking habits – full of amusement.

I rolled my eyes. "Not all of us care about the first impressions that teachers get on the first day Crin; it's not my fault that Jade cares." Nevertheless I started up the ramp at a casual human pace, a grinning Crin following behind me.

When we entered the classroom, our homeroom teacher had been talking about SATS and PSATS and organization skills, but as soon as Crin and I stepped into the classroom, everyone fell silent. All sets of mortal eyes stared at us with wide, gawking eyes, watching us as we gracefully made our way to the teacher to hand him our schedules. For a moment I had a hard time hearing the mortals breathe; I was pretty sure the term "could hear a needle drop" applied to the situation—not that I would know, wince I can hear that either way.

Though I was starting to feel a little self conscious – any normal person would feel self conscious if every mortal in the entire classroom was gawking at you curiously 

while your back was turned—I put on my best smile and handed the schedule over to the teacher. "Hello, my name is Elizabeth Swan and this is my little sister Crin." I refrained from putting Crin and Swan together because I always thought it had a weird sound to it; Crin Swan. I didn't want to speak it aloud nor did I want to think it.

The teacher didn't seem to notice or care. Frankly he didn't seem to notice that I was holding both our schedules out to him. He stood there staring at me for a moment, his mouth slightly dropped open and his dull brown eyes wide with wonder. I tried to keep my irritation from showing as I waved the schedules in front of the teacher's face, asking "Is anything wrong?"

The teacher shook himself out of his trance and snatched the schedules from my hand. "No, nothing is wrong. I advise you to be on time from now on, Elizabeth; tardiness is not commendable on your first day." Crin started to giggle angelically from behind me as my smile tightened. Jade must have placed some sort of curse on me when I told him that; now I was sure everyone was going to tell me the same thing all day, even when I wasn't late.

Wonderful way to start your first day of public school, isn't it?

He signed the papers and handed them back to me. "Please introduce yourself to the class, Elizabeth and Crin." I frowned. It's not like the class hadn't heard our names. I mean, they were practically hanging onto every word, no, every _breath_ we took. They knew our names perfectly well!

Nevertheless, I whirled around, my black curls bobbing against my back, my hands clutched behind my back and the cutest smile on my face as I introduced myself; "Hi, I'm Liz. I'm from…" I paused. We hadn't gone over this part of the plan. I glanced over at Edward for help since I didn't want to create more curiosity by telling the students that I was from Italy. You know how I said that Mortals were practically hanging onto everything we did like we were their lifelines? Well, Edward isn't included. He's NOT mortal. The whole time he was hardly paying any attention to us; he stared out the window with a distant expression written on his stunning features, as though he hadn't noticed us walk in and introduce ourselves, which I highly doubted, considering everyone's silence. He now gave me his attention, looking as though he'd never seen before in his whole entire life. He wasn't acting as eager, but there was some interest in his eyes. Maybe he was genuinely interested in what I was going to say. When I looked at him for help, his lips quickly moved and being an expert in lip-reading – When we need to be quiet, my coven has found it useful to read each other's lips in order to tell each other what we're about to do – I was able to read what he said; "Your from Montana."

"I'm from Montana." I said, still smiling the cutest smile. "I'm deeply honored to be your classmate for the remainder of the year!" I mentally kicked myself. Normally I get annoyed with overly-cute people so I was surprised at how I was acting. I could at least be…oh, I don't know. Something not so cute, like normal. But when you're a Vampire with incredibly good looks, 'normal' isn't easily achieved. So of course I was disgusted with the way I was acting, but I don't think that anyone really cared enough to notice. Everyone was pretty much staring at me like I was some sort of goddess come down from the heavens to protect them from some un-seen evil or something equally ridiculous.

I strode over to an empty desk in the back – about five seats away from Edward—and sat down, placing my book bag onto the floor beside me while taking my notebook out. As Crin was introducing herself – I couldn't help but notice how shy she was acting; she introduced herself in a quiet voice, her expression some-what uncomfortable as she stared at the class, shifting her foot around like she was some little kid – I flipped the note book open and started to write.

_Edward,_ I wrote, _what is wrong with you? _I tore the paper out as Crin skipped to the desk in front of me – four seats away from Edward—and folded it into a paper football. I put it between my fingers and flicked it across the room at Vampire speed towards Edward's head, which caught it before it hit him and before anyone noticed. He waited for a moment, watching the teacher drone on and on about SATS as he opened the paper under his desk and lay it flat on his desk.

The teacher started to pace the room. "Please take this test seriously, especially you juniors. The seniors have either taken the test already or are about to take it in a few weeks. For those who are about to take it, good luck." He finally sat down in the chair behind the desk, indicating that he was done talking and that we could talk. The room exploded into conversation, everyone turning to their neighbors to talk about their weekend or some other stupid thing that didn't really matter. The noise hurt my ears, making me flinch involuntarily. One of the worst things about being a Vampire is the noise level being kicked up a few notches when it was a normal noise level to mortals.

I tried to keep my eyes on Edward – even though what I really wanted to do was lie my head down on the desk, close my eyes and over my ears to try to drown out the racket – and waited as patiently as possible for him to scribble something down on the piece of paper, fold it back up and toss it back to me without turning around to aim it.

I caught it before anyone noticed. Dang, he had a good aim!

I unfolded the paper and lay it on my desk, my eyes scanning my surroundings to make sure that no one was peeking at whatever he wrote just in case it was something…not meant for mortals.

_Did that girl say that her boyfriend's name was Jacob Black?_ I frowned. This was not what I had been expecting. I was expecting something like, "that girl knew about us, how did she know?" or maybe something else about my mom. The first one was more probable, because though I was sure he thought about my mom all the time, I highly doubt he'd randomly complain about her absence when some mortal is talking about how she knows your family's darkest secret. So I was surprised that he was bothered about her stupid boyfriend. Okay, she did say he was the one who told her, so maybe he was a concern, but why was Edward making him out to be such a big deal?

_Yes, she said his name was Jacob Black. I don't see how that poses a problem. Care to explain? _I scribbled back quickly before folding the paper up and tossing it back. Edward caught it again. I watched him as he read the note and wrote something for a little while.

"Why are you two passing notes?" Crin asked in a voice that was too quiet for mortals to hear. I looked away from Edward and stared at her conversational expression.

"Well he sent the last reply in a note while everyone was talking, so I figure it has something to do with something that mortals can't listen to." I answered in a bored tone. Shouldn't she have figured this out by now? Crin said nothing in reply, only reached out and snagged something in mid-flight; my note. Apparently while I was paying attention to Crin, Edward had folded the note back up and tossed it back over his shoulder.

"Crin, give me the note!" I growled a little too loud, causing one of the girls to stop in mid-conversation with her neighbor and glance at me with a curious expression. I ignored her and hissed through my teeth in a quieter voice. "Crin, give the note back!"

"Or you'll do what?" Crin grinned back at me as she turned around to read the note. I sighed irritably and slouched forward to tap my fingers loudly on the desk and making a point to practically breathe down her neck. I think she ignored me, because she started scribbling something down before she finally handed it back.

I snatched it away while glaring at Crin, who only smiled her angelic smile as though she was completely justified in butting into my personal life and then looked to see what they'd written.

_I guess you could say he was an acquaintance of mine and a good friend to your mother,_ Edward wrote in his fancy-looking script, _he was a werewolf._ I stopped reading there, my eyes wide with horror. Werewolf? Those existed still? I'd heard Aro talk about his battles with werewolves in his prime – though frankly he was still in his prime since he couldn't age or anything, he just chose to hang out around his castle and get his little minions to do his dirty work now – but I hadn't thought that werewolves still existed. I 

didn't know how they worked, or how they acted. Did they spend one night a month as a werewolf? Were they ugly? So many questions zoomed around my head, but the only one that stood out was; why didn't my mother ever tell me? Apparently there was a lot she hadn't told me about her past. Though now that I thought more about it, she never really talked to anyone about her past; I used to always think that my mother had some mysterious aura around her, like there was something that was waiting to be discovered under her kind, loving smiles.

I was right apparently. I was now sitting in a room with a father that I never knew existed who was telling me that my mother was friends with a werewolf.

I continued to read the rest of his reply; _we made a pact with the werewolves before I met your mother. We weren't to bite another human or cross into their lands without permission. So when I changed your mother, the werewolves threatened war. So we moved. We told Bella's father that she and I were going to college in Alaska. Though we did go to Alaska, we didn't go to the part where everyone thought we went to. If Jacob were to find us now, we could start a war. _I shuddered at the thought of a Vampire – werewolf war. I didn't know anything about werewolves, so it's not like I would be much help fighting. And knowing me, I'd fight to the death for those I loved. The wolves would be messing with my family, though I'd never really known about them. But now that I had I wanted to protect them because my mother loved them and because I was growing to love them to. Funny how I was so horrified at the thought of having a father when I first found out and now a few days later I'm willing to die for he and his family. Jade would say that's progress in my maturity if I told him that, which I won't of course. How embarrassing!

After I contemplated my role in the maybe-war which somehow started to seem inevitable – great, a war between wolves AND the Volturri – I read what Crin wrote and groaned.

_My pet werewolf has a first name! It's R-E-M-U-S! My pet werewolf has a second name it's L-U-P-I-N! Oh I love to be a dog and play, and if you ask me why I'll say- cause my pet werewolf has a way with being fuzzy for one day!_ I glared up at Crin who was humming the song to herself, smiling like she'd just won a billion dollars, slightly bouncing in her chair making it so that her ringlets bobbed around her face. I looked down at the paper and groaned again; it was written in purple ink. I sighed and wrote my response to Edward.

_So what do you suggest we do? Do we move? _I folded the paper back up and tossed it back into Edward's waiting hand. He quickly read it – he tossed a funny look over his shoulder when he read Crin's little song – wrote something down, and tossed the note back.

_It would be a logical path to take. But we don't know whether the girl's lying or not. Unfortunately I was not able to look into her mind because someone's brother was using his powers. For now I say we not worry about it for now; it's not like anyone is going to believe the girl. She never did quite have any friends anyways. We'll concentrate on the Volturri for the moment, but if we do end up running into some wolves, we'll deal with it when it happens, alright? _I smiled softly. Yea, concentrate on the Volturri. Hadn't we always concentrated on them?

Suddenly the bell rang, its nasally sound piercing my ears and making me cringe and I quickly stuffed the note into my backpack. Crin stood and dashed out the door before anyone else could, and the mortals paused and stared after her with bewildered expressions written all over their faces. I sighed and rolled my eyes as I picked my back pack up. She was probably going to go find my brother.

I silently prayed that she remembered that she was supposed to act like she was his sister. Incest is not something that humans of Vampires consider normal.

As I was quietly laughing at my own little joke, a dark shadow hovered over me. I looked up into the face of a handsome, dark-haired boy, his smile warm and inviting as he held out a tanned hand. "Hi, my name is Ryan Smith, what's yours?"

I'm sure any other mortal – and maybe immortal as well – would have thought this guy was cute immediately. But I wasn't any other mortal. My first thought was, _Royce is sexier._ But maybe that's because I'm bias since Royce is the man who I loved more than anything. Some school hottie isn't going to change that just by throwing his charms on me. Some of the girls passing by us cast envious looks at me, probably wishing to be in my spot. I wish they were. I was mortified! I kept thinking _what would I do if Royce were here?_ Which was probably a stupid thing to think since I knew exactly what I'd do; I'd introduce myself and then I'd introduce Royce as my boyfriend in the most polite way possible. Though I missed Royce with every fiber of my being, there were times when I really wished he were here by my side.

Now was one of those times.

In my head I could hear Royce growling with disapproval, his golden eyes narrowing on the boy as his dirty blonde hair flopped over them, casting a shadow across his face and making him look even more menacing.

But nevertheless, I kept a bright smile on my face while introducing myself – though I was pretty sure Ryan did know who I was already, since everyone gave me their attention when I introduced myself the first time. "Hello, my name is Liz Swan; it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ryan smiled at me with some-what white teeth, his blue eyes shining with wonder. "Where is your next class?" he asked me. I looked down at my schedule – though I really didn't need it since it took me only a few moments to memorize it when I got it – and answered in the most casual voice I could manage.

"English with Mrs. Portillo," I looked backed up at him to find him grinning ear to ear with a smile that made him look like he'd just been told that he'd won the lottery.

"I have her next, too!" he cried. My eyebrows rose but I kept my smile on my face. It wasn't all that big of a surprise to find that he was going to be in my next class; the school was pretty small. But it's good to be polite, at least that's what mom always told me when Aro was going on and on about his glory days. "I'll show you the way, if you'd like?" He asked, a little uncertainty seeping into his voice though his face showed that he was very confidant of my response.

As I said, better to be polite than rude. "Sure," I answered, standing up with my backpack over my shoulder. I was one hundred percent sure that I could have found the room easily, but he just looked so hopeful that I didn't want to crush his spirits on my first day here.

As we headed out the door – Ryan was talking about his football career with me, though I really wasn't paying attention because football never really interested me – I saw Edward standing by his desk out of the corner of my eye. He was glaring at the boy, and for a moment it took me a second to figure out why. Dads don't like it when boys go after their daughters, even new fathers with no experience.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself – Ryan must have thought I was laughing at something he said because it made him say, "I know, right?" though I really didn't know but I nodded at him just the same. As we left the room, I couldn't help but think; _wait till Edward finds out that I'm completely head-over heels in love with a boyfriend he doesn't even know about!_

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_Huff, huff, huff! _

The giant, reddish-brown wolf breathed deeply as he ran through the thick, lush green Canadian forest, dodging trees that popped into his path as he sped at an impossibly fast speed – for a wolf, at least. The muscles in his legs rippled with sweat as he forced himself to go faster, his mind only on one thing; _her_. Just the thought of seeing her cute, eight-year old smile again made him compelled to pump his legs faster, dodging rocks and trees as they came. So great was his desire to see her again that he did not feel the rocks that lodged themselves into his gigantic paws, nor the thirst that 

burned his lungs and throat or the wind that stung his eyes, causing them to tear up and make it hard to see what was in front of him. A few times he did end up slamming into a tree – which usually toppled over and made a bunch of racket, causing the forest around him to go eerily silent and make him cringe in anticipation as though he expected something sinister was going to pop out of the trees and attack him – but no matter how much pain he went through, he kept going.

_Ouch, ouch, ouch!_ He mentally groaned with each stride – he'd recently pulled a muscle in his right front leg, and with each stride he took the muscle cried out in protest, begging for him to take a rest. It was a tempting thought; rest would be a nice thing. He hadn't traveled this far for a long time, not since the pack had gone to hunt down their enemies about thirty years ago and he had certainly never gone this long without taking a breather. Even when his first love had left him for his enemy did he ever run this fast, but even then he'd circled around to go back to his pack after hitting the Canadian border.

But this was an emergency. He had to get to her before they did…before those bloodsuckers ever laid hands on her perfect, innocent body.

Hatred seeped into his heart when he thought about the bloodsuckers. These weren't the bloodsuckers who'd taken his first love – his human love – away from him, but they were close to it. They were of the same species, they probably smelled – he hadn't actually met the ones he was going to protect her from – and they had the same diet as the bloodsuckers who'd taken his human love away from him.

He wouldn't have been heading on his way here if it hadn't been for the bloodsucker that he and the pack had run into a few days ago. Since they'd given up the search for the bloodsuckers and his former human love, they hadn't actually taken their protecting jobs seriously. Who was there to protect their people from? No one. Half of the pack stopped transforming and were aging regularly. The only ones who continued to change was he, Sam, Jared, Embry, Quil and Paul. They did it less often than they used to, only changing when they decided to check the land for any invading Vampires. They'd kept the routine going for nine years now. Be normal human beings for most of the time, and checking the surrounding areas for intruders every once in a while.

He'd been the one to pick up the Vampire's fresh scent a couple days ago when he was checking the area out. The scent had hit him as though someone had thrown a brick into his face randomly, and he instinctively howled for the rest of his pack members to join. It hadn't been a familiar scent, but it was still on their land.

He hadn't waited long for the others to show up, running by his side. He let Sam take the lead and it wasn't long before they could see the bloodsucker running ahead, 

making a break for the treaty line. They'd tried to speed up faster, but the bloodsucker had gotten over the line just as we were closing in for the kill. As soon as he passed the treaty line, we slammed to a stop. Paul wanted to go in for the kill – the bloodsucker had noticed our sudden stop and had stopped too, looking at us curiously with his golden eyes, a sign that he might have been with the Cullen's; either way, he wasn't a human-eater – but Sam made him stay back. Sam retreated back for a moment and came back in his human form to ask the bloodsucker questions.

The bloodsucker was of course repulsed by us, but nevertheless he answered us with a slight Spanish accent. He was as beautiful as any other Vampire was – not that I really cared, since I had someone I was waiting for – and though he was obviously from some Spanish-speaking country, I found it a little odd that his hair was a dirty-blonde; it wasn't normally a Spanish trait.

But it was his information that he politely – well, as politely as he possibly could; we were, after all, mortal enemies – gave us that shocked us. He couldn't remember the Vampire's name, it started with an R. But he really didn't care about that. The Vampire had told them that his coven had been on the run, running from the Volturri for about ten years and that he'd split off to lead the Volturri away. Recently the Volturri had disappeared, so we had no need to worry that we would be visited by them. He said he didn't know why the Volturri had stopped chasing him when Sam asked.

Sam asked the Vampire if he knew were his coven was now. He hesitated to answer this question naturally, but answered it nevertheless. "I don't know where they are exactly; all I know is that they're sticking to the coast line up along the Canadian and Alaskan boarder. The last time I called them, they were half-way to a small fisherman village called Angoon."

That's what had sent him on a desperate craze to protect the girl he'd imprinted on nine years ago at the end of their search of the bloodsuckers. She'd been too young at the time, so he'd left her with a description of what Vampires looked like.

Hopefully she was being careful to avoid them. Just because they ate animals didn't mean that she should hang around with them. Maybe his worry was in vain. Maybe he'd get there and the Vampires would have skipped over that town. Maybe she was completely fine, completely unaware of the danger she could be in…

Or maybe this so called 'rescue mission' that he'd convinced Sam to let him go on was only because he was afraid that she would fall for a bloodsucker like his human love had.

He sped up when the possibility invaded his mind. He wouldn't let her go without a fight this time; even if it meant that he died for her. If he kept the pace that he was currently going at, he would be able to get there by maybe that evening.

He tried to pick up the pace and leaped over a boulder that jutted up from the ground, howling as he did so. He'd be there soon…

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I slammed my food-packed tray onto the table, startling Jade into pulling away from Crin. I glared at him as I sat down and then searched the room. No one had noticed that he had been about to kiss his younger 'sister'. "Jade, PDA is not allowed at this school. Please refrain from kissing your '_sister_' at _school_." Jade returned my glare as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"She's not my little sister, this is a stupid arrangement." He mumbled to himself, throwing a glare at Alice who'd been the one to suggest the arrangement. Alice merely shrugged.

"Liz shouldn't have to suffer through your make-out sessions during school like she does at home." Alice answered in a casual voice. I grinned when Jade started to grumble incomprehensible things to himself, causing his mate to giggle.

"Stop being such a poppy-pants sweetie, school's almost over." She patted his shoulder as though he were some little child who needed comforting. Jade groaned but said nothing in response.

Another tray slammed next to me, making me cringe; I had ditched Ryan after first period and was trying to avoid him. Unfortunately the school was so small that it was inevitable that everyone would have the same lunch. So naturally I was dreading lunch.

I was relieved when it was only Edward and not some love-struck boy following after me like I was his master or something. "Hey Edward," I breathed, leaning against my elbow. Edward noticed the relieved tone in my voice but he said nothing about it.

Instead, he asked "How has your day been so far?"

Jade immediately answered, "Terrible! I can't touch my own mate romantically because she's supposedly my sister! I don't want her to be my sister!"

I rolled my eyes. "Stop having a hissy-fit Jade, your acting like a two year old." Both Edward and Alice nodded in agreement as Crin giggled in amusement.

Edward turned his golden eyes on me. "And you?"

I shrugged. "Well, besides this morning, it was alright. I could be doing something better with my life, something worthwhile, but if I've got to go to keep people from being suspicious, I'll do so." Edward suddenly looked very uncomfortable for some unknown reason. His eyebrows furrowed and he bit his lower lip lightly as he cleared his throat – something he didn't need to do. "What's wrong with you?" I asked, curiosity filling my mind. Had I said something wrong? Did he need to go hunting or something? That couldn't be it; his eyes were still bright gold.

"About this morning…" Edward started nervously as though he was dreading to spit out whatever it was that was bothering him. I waited patiently for him to continue, wondering if it was about that whole werewolf/Vampire situation. "About that boy who walked you to your first class?" Edward finally asked his voice low.

Oh. My. Crap. He wasn't going to give me a lecture on boys, was he? Horror swept through me, mixing with amusement. Horror because first off, I don't want to talk about something so embarrassing with my father, secondly Crin was now laughing her head off – drawing a bunch of attention to our table – Alice was sighing and whispering "Sorry I didn't tell you about this…" and Jade was staring at Edward and I like this was some really funny entertainment show.

I was filled with amusement as well because Edward had obviously never thought he'd end up talking about boys to his 25 year old daughter who had a boyfriend – though he didn't know about it – and already had the same talk from her mother. "Edward," I carefully kept my voice monotone, "Mom already gave me the talk. The talk about boys and the other talk…you know the birds and the bees…"

The look of horror on Edwards face was so funny that it broke my careful control on my expression and I burst out laughing. "I wasn't going to get into that part of the discussion, I swear! I don't need to be reminded of that…"Edward groaned. "I just got you; I really don't feel like having to worry about men and…that."

"Edward, I'm twenty five." I whispered too low for mortals to hear – which was very wise since people had been staring at us all day, whispering about us to their friends as though we couldn't hear them. "Mom gave us that talk when we were nine. Calm down please before you draw attention to us." I glanced at Jade and glared at him as if to say, "tell-dad-about-you-know-who-and-I'll-bite-your-face-off". I think he got the message, because he had to cover his mouth to hide his laughing. Edward glanced at him curiously and panic pulsed through me for a millisecond; I REALLY didn't want him to know about Royce without meeting him first. Which would be when? I had no idea. The thought made pain shoot through my soul – if we had a soul but that's not the point – but I still had to distract Edward so I asked, "Why don't you give Jade the talk?"

It worked. Edward's attention came back to me and Jade glared at me as though to say, "Traitor." But Edward didn't seem to notice. "I would have, but Jade already is mated to Crin." He glanced at Crin who was tearing her food apart with her plastic knife, a bright smile on her face. "And sometimes I wonder about that choice…" Crin giggled hysterically, and I laughed at Jade's annoyed expression.

"Because I love her," Jade growled. Edward smiled at him – it was almost a wistful smile.

"Yes, I know. It was supposed to be a joke." Edward said quietly.

"Edward, Jade never jokes around when it comes to Crin. Believe me, that's the only time he's serious." I informed Edward triumphantly.

"I get serious when your being an idiot and you need some sense knocked into you." Jade growled, though the irritation had started to leave his expression, replaced by a more playful one. I grinned at him and winked.

Edward sighed. "It's just that…especially with humans…it's not good to get attached, you know? I know I'm being hypocritical, but things really do get a bit messy at times. Changing your mom was the hardest thing I had to do." That was news to me. I'd always assumed that they'd jumped to getting my mom changed.

"Why?" I asked; wouldn't he want to change my mom? Didn't he claim to love her? Why wouldn't he have wanted to change her? Did he want to watch my mother age and die?

"I wanted to change her, but it would have been selfish. It WAS selfish." Edwards answer confused me further. He wanted to change her, and yet it was the hardest thing he'd ever done? Was it a blood lust thing? "The reason why is…I'm not sure where Vampires go when they die. Do they go to heaven based on their effort to be good? Or are they doomed from the beginning? I couldn't doom her…but I did. She won the argument in the end, and I changed her." I was silent as I contemplated this. What did happen to our souls when we died?

"Just be careful who you fall for, alright?" Edward concluded his voice gentle and sincere. I nodded mechanically.

Suddenly a tray slammed next to Jade, making us all snap our heads up to look into the face of our intruder.

It was that stupid girl again.

She smiled at us warmly as she sat down. I was very tempted to pick up my tray and walk away, but Alice put a hand on my shoulder to restrain me. So instead I scowled at her, folding my arms over my chest. "What do you want?" I growled.

She turned her warm smile on me, and I shivered. Though her smile was warm, her eyes were a completely different story. They sparkled with frightening amount of determination, intent on getting the answers that she knew we had but wouldn't tell her. I had a pretty good feeling that she would do whatever it took to get what she wanted out of us.

Too bad we don't succumb to mortal pleas…usually.

"I don't think I got the chance to introduce myself," She said, sticking her hand out in front of my face, "My name is Eve Green, it's a _pleasure_ to meet you." I stared at her pale hand – everyone was pale in Alaska, I've noticed. It's probably because there is practically no sun at all.

"Liz Swan," I introduced myself grudgingly as I took her hand firmly in mine, "The boy your sitting by is my older twin brother, Jade Swan, and the girl who you chased is our younger sister Crin Swan," Alice gave me a funny look and I remembered Alice wasn't in on what happened this morning since I highly doubt that she was watching for anything besides the Volturri and occasionally the family. "These are our…friends, Alice Cullen and Edward Cullen." I pointed them out as I spoke.

"You guys had three siblings graduate last year, didn't you?" Eve asked us, her green eyes full of interest. Edward stared at her a long time before sighing. After throwing a glare at Jade, I understood why he was taking so long to answer; he'd been trying to read her mind to see what she was up to.

I shook my head at Jade. If Edward interrupted what Eve was going to say, it would only make us sound even more suspicious to her. We'd just have to deal for the time being.

"Yes, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper graduated last year." Edward answered.

Eve stared at them each of us for a long time, seeming to be analyzing each and every one of us. Her gaze turned to disgust when her eyes connected with Crin's cheery expression and she quickly moved on to my brother. "You guys don't look a thing alike." She commented.

"Which ones?" I asked, tensing as I put my guard up.

"Crin doesn't look a thing like either of you, and Alice and Edward don't look remotely close to being related." I looked at Crin; though she had dark hair, her facial 

features didn't have any resemblance to either Jade or I. But at one glance she could pass off for being a sibling. The only reason that Eve saw the differences was because she was actually looking.

The question was, why? What was her point in doing this? I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that we were going to find out soon.

"They were adopted. Mrs. Cullen can't have kids." I answered for Edward, leaning in slowly. "Are you looking down on Mrs. Cullen because she can't have kids? Not everyone can have kids, you know." Eve's suspicious expression turned to horror and confusion.

"What? No! Of course not, that's not what I meant, how could you think that I would be so cruel?" She stuttered desperately, trying to scramble out of the mess I'd just made for her. I grinned triumphantly as Alice sighed next to me.

"We know what you meant." She nudged me as though to say, 'don't –you-cause-trouble-for-us". I merely scoffed; she obviously didn't know how much of a problem Eve had already caused us.

Eve calmed down, her body relaxing as she continued with whatever she was she was saying. "How old are you guys?" She asked. All of us stiffened; Alice still kept her smile – though it looked kind of fake now – Jade's eyes tightened, Crin…well, Crin was still her same, cheery self, My body went so tense that my neck actually started hurting a bit, and Edward clenched his fists on his legs.

"Um," I bit my rock-hard, bottom lip as I answered, "Eighteen."

"Nineteen." Edward answered his voice as un-readable as his expression.

"Eighteen," Though Alice's voice was light and airy; there was still a tight edge in her voice.

"Eighteen, though I'm five minutes older than Liz." Jade tried to pass it off as a joke by winking at me – which I played along with by glaring back at him – but his eyes were still tense.

"Seventeen!" Crin crowed, bouncing around in her seat. She sounded the most animated and realistic in our whole group, probably because her experience in the Volturri helped her act normal. Eve glared at Crin again, but said nothing to her.

"So," Eve continued after a long, uncomfortable pause, "How long have you guys been those ages?"

Alice's eyes flashed to Edward, full of mixed emotions; confusion, anger, anxiety, and fear. Edward met her eyes with a look that I couldn't describe for a few moments before turning his eyes back onto Eve. I gave Eve my best non-vampire-looking glare. So that's what she was up to. More Vampire business.

"I just turned nineteen." Edward's voice was hard and firm. It was actually kind of terrifying. I was suddenly glad that I was A) on his good side – at least I think I am. B) Have never gotten into a huge amount of trouble around him, because I'm sure that if I did, he would be using that voice with me. Mom had a voice that frightened me too, and usually when she used it, it meant that one of us were in BIG trouble.

So I wasn't surprised that Eve shirked away from Edward, flinching as she did so. I tried to keep the laughter out of my voice as I said, "Look Eve, we're not Vampires. I don't know why your boyfriend thinks we are," though I actually did, but I wasn't going to say that, "But we are seriously not Vampires."

Eve frowned, her eyes holding mine as she scrutinized my expression. I carefully put my poker face on, making sure that she couldn't tell if I was lying or not.

Finally after a long, uncomfortable pause, Eve sighed. "I don't believe you." I suddenly had the urge to smack her – not too hard, but hard enough to knock some sense into her stubborn mind. Why couldn't she just keep her nose in her own business? Why should she care what we were? I'd tried every way I knew to reason with her, but _nothing_ was working! "I know what my boyfriend told me. My boyfriend wouldn't lie. How can I not trust him?"

I rolled my eyes. Her logic was somewhat reasonable. I would trust Royce even if he went off the deep end. I would trust him till proven otherwise. "Why don't you go sit with him then?" I asked her, letting as much of my annoyance seep into my voice.

Her eyes suddenly grew sad. "He's not here. I haven't seen him in nine years." Edward's eyes flashed to mine. So for the time being we were safe from any werewolves. But how can a girl still hold onto that faith and love for nine years without ever seeing him? Yes, I would have loved Royce no matter how long he stayed away, even though it was painful to think about that. But wasn't it different for mortals?

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said, "But you seriously need to stop…"

Suddenly someone else plopped their tray on our table. "Hey Liz!" Ryan smiled down at me. I suppressed a shudder and nudged Edward when he started growling.

"Hey Ryan," I weakly greeted back as I wondered if one of us had put a sign on our table saying, "Hey-come-sit-with-the-table-of-vampires-its-free!" but I highly doubted anyone would be that stupid. Even Crin kept secrecy on the whole Vampire thing.

He'd eaten most of his lunch already, which sort of annoyed me. If you're going to sit with someone for lunch, bring your lunch untouched. To me it said that he was too frightened to come sit with us. Yes, he had a good reason since his natural instincts told him to run – it surprised me that he even had the courage to introduce him – but still. If he really wanted to land a date with me – which he so never would – he'd have to try harder than that.

He sat down and everything went deathly silent. He drank his water bottle up and then shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "So, um…you're Edward, right?" Edward nodded, his fists clenching even more.

"Yes," His voice was masked, no emotion at all. And yet for some reason, I wouldn't want to be in Ryan's place.

"Are you…um…" Whatever Ryan was going to ask, it must have been embarrassing, since he blushed furiously. "Are you Liz's boyfriend?"

Jade burst out laughing and though Crin was trying to calm him down – he really was laughing really hard; if he'd been mortal I would have been concerned for him – she too was trying to hold back laughter. Alice of course looked like she'd already known about it, which was probably the case. I stared at Ryan, my mouth dropped open. EW! I do NOT support incest! That's what I wanted to say, but I didn't since first of all, Ryan didn't know that Edward was my dad, and second, Edward looked way too young to be my father.

It would probably prove Eve's case as well, something none of us wanted.

Edward stared at him for a long time with the same expression. "No," he answered, his voice hard again. Ryan flinched at his tone and I once again thanked the stars that I wasn't in Ryan's place.

I could just imagine what it would be like for Royce. Another reason why I wouldn't tell Edward.

But even though Edward was absolutely –yet humanly—terrifying, Ryan still seemed relieved. A stupid emotion to feel; I was still taken.

He just didn't know it yet.

Suddenly the bell rang, signaling for the end of lunch. I sighed gratefully as I stood. "Well it was nice talking to you, Liz." Ryan smiled at me.

I stared at him. He hadn't hardly talked to me, and yet he was talking as though we were long lost friends who had been catching up on each other's lives. How stupid was that?

"Yes…" I nodded, putting on my best fake smile. I looked at his tray full of empty plates and an empty bottle. "Can I borrow that bottle?" Ryan nodded and handed it to me before leaving to throw his trash away. As soon as he was out of range – Eve had drifted off somewhere, probably disappointed that she got no more proof on our identities – I turned to Jade, who was looking at Crin wistfully.

I threw the bottle at Jade's head – which hit, naturally – and hissed, "No PDA!"

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**I'd just like you all to know, that even though I havent' updated for like two months -though I was REALLY busy, so it wasn't like I was just blowing you guys off - this chapter is eighteen pages. **

**Oh yea! I'm proud of that. **

**It was actualy going to be longer, but when I looked to see how many pages I wrote, I was like holy crap! Thats already a lot. If I were to continue, it would be like over thirty pages long. But I have gotten not only chapter nine planned out, but also chapter ten. Thankfully summer is comming soon, which means...MORE REGULAR UPDATES!! -throws party- **

**Now, to answer questions...**

**crazyobsessedtwilightfan****- du du dun oh my carsile!  
what do the cullens do?  
dose jacob still know about the cullens  
wait ( checks first chapter) yes he dose  
what will he do?  
are you a jacob hater or lover  
UPDATE!1!**

**answer(s) - WOW thats a LOT of questions! BUT! NO FEAR!! I shall answer! Well, the Cullens are pretty much just kind of going to see what happens, as revealed in this chapter. Jacob knows about the Cullens, but he just doesn't know they're in Angoon just yet. I can't tell you what he's going to do, because that would ruin the story! I actually don't like Jacob when he's chasing after Bella. As long as he's going after some other chick, I'm cool with him. He's a decent guy, its just...Bella equals Edward. So yea, I had some major problems with Jacob at the end of New Moon and during Eclipse. **

**Many of you were concerned as to why Jacob is in Alaska. Well, he's not, as you can see. More will be explained on that whole mess next chapter. I know Eve sounds a little...strange or maybe even a little annoying, but she's really just kind of nosey and...well, her behavior will be explained. Theres a reason why she's acting so pushy. **

**Now, I love reviews! I seriously love them a TON! So I'm cool with long and short reviews, frankly I leave pretty long reviews as well. I'm free for questions, since I'm sure this chapter provided some unanswered questions. I'm sorry if its not as well written as my others. As I said, I've been kind of busy lately. But now that things are starting to settle down, I'll be able to hopefully update soon!**

**Till next time! **

**REVIEW!**

**Love, **

**Alice**

**P.S; PDA, for all of you who don't know, means Public Display of Affection. But you all probably know that on account of the schools being compleatly against it. **


	9. Chapter 9

I don't know if you truly understand me when I say that I _hate_ high school…or maybe you do. But my major reason probably isn't anywhere on your list of why you hate it. It isn't just because you're surrounded by stupid teenagers who think they're all that or that they've endured a lot through out their life – which is stupid, because even though I've been hunted by a group of insane, blood-thirsty vampires, even I know I haven't experienced enough to get me through life. It isn't just because of the fact that the teachers really don't know anything that would surprise a Vampire who'd been taught by much older, experienced Vampires in her younger years. And it isn't even just because you're forced to act completely different than what you're instincts are telling you or that you're forced to sit and buy a lunch which you'll never eat, therefore waiting you time, money and perfectly good food that could have fed a starving person somewhere in Africa or whatever.

Well, maybe you're list isn't all that similar to mine…but those reasons are insignificant compared to the reason that I came up with almost immediately when I walked into my history class and found my "father" sitting in the back…

Right next to the only vacant seat in the room.

You know its one thing to have your parent teach a class that you have, because then they are forced to focus most of their attention on the rest of the class in order to be a good teacher. But when your parent is a student because they look the appropriate age and is sitting by the only vacant seat in the whole classroom, it's a completely different matter. He could focus all that unwanted attention on me as much as he wanted to.

And trust me, he wanted to. You have no idea how much I don't want attention from him. I had to resist the suddenly strong temptation to abruptly turn around and walk out of the room. I probably would have and made up some excuse that he probably wouldn't buy later, but I already had the whole classroom staring at me, watching my every move. If I suddenly turned around and walked out and never returned, how would I explain that without making them wonder about me?

Deciding that I should at least try to keep from looking like I'd just seen a ghost, I composed my expression into a shy smile before any of the mortals noticed – though I wouldn't be surprised if Edward noticed, because he was looking at me from the corner of his eye. I tried to casually stride to the desk – though I was seriously trying to keep myself from dashing to the desk and to the back of the room, because you know, super speed is so totally normal behavior to a mortal—and handed my schedule to the teacher, trying to block out the curious mummers that rippled through the classroom.

"Don't you think she kind of looks like the Cullens?"

"Though she kind of looks like the Cullens, she's much more sociable…"

"The Cullens certainly adopted her and her family into the group quickly…maybe it's because they heard about her parent's brutal murder and felt bad…"

See how quickly mortals mix up rumors? My story was that they died in a car crash, not a brutal murder. This just proved the theory I'd developed of mortals as a child; mortals are like curios cats. Curiosity killed the cat.

The teacher took the schedule sharply from me, glanced at it quickly before signing it and shoving it back at me.

"Go sit by Cullen."

Wow, what a shock.

I don't know if maybe the faculty had heard that I'd sat with the Cullens at lunch –likely, since the Cullens weren't what you called 'warm and inviting', especially Edward but Edward had more than the whole "vampire" excuse—or maybe he just assumed that I'd be blind if I didn't see the only vacant seat because he didn't have Edward raise his hand like the other teachers did, nor did he attempt to point him out.

So I tried to look self conscious or like someone who was going through a difficult time – I was, but not that type of hard time – as I walked down the isle, and I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by a particularly strong, floral scent. I quickly cast a sideways glance in the direction of the smell, trying to keep my expression from turning into one of disgust. The smell came off a petite, bleach-blonde teenager who was currently smothering on pounds of make up onto her face. I turned away quickly, repressing a shudder as the familiar thought of 'mortals are strange, but the females are the strangest,' crossed my mind as I sat down next to Edward just as the bell rang.

Saved by the bell.

I sighed in relief –I prayed silently that Edward didn't notice and get curious and file it away in his little mental folder marked 'remember to ask/bother Liz about this the first chance you get'.

The teacher – a quick sideways glance at my schedule informed me that his name was 'Mr. Monroe'—called the still murmuring students to attention and started to prattle on about World War 2.

Meaning I'd have to sit through another lesson full of things that I'd heard twenty times over.

A quick summary on Hitler's rise to power – they probably learned about it the previous class—old news. Lecture on Pearl Harbor and how the United States took down Japan? Practically memorized.

Obviously I wasn't going to learn anything new in this tiny, clustered portable, so instead I cast my eyes about the room, observing the various posters of famous locations from foreign countries, places I highly doubted Mr. Monroe had ever been.

There was a poster of the Eifel Tower in France, – been there—a poster of Buckingham Palace in England, home of the royal family – do you know how many guards are Vampires? They'd been guarding the royal family since Queen Elizabeth the first – a poster of the Neusuwanstein Castle in Germany, or "Disney's Cinderella Castle" since Walt Disney had used it as inspiration to create the Disney castle – it was really pretty, sort of quiet—and a poster of the Coliseum in Rome – you know what's sad? I lived in Italy, and yet I've never been to the Coliseum. Kind of ironic, isn't it?

As I mentally thought over the possibilities of ever going to see the Coliseum, suddenly a piece of paper was shoved over my notebook. Startled – I know, I know; I shouldn't be surprised by stuff like that. I just wasn't paying attention—I stared down at the recognizable elegant script written in pencil on the piece of paper. I took a quick narrowed sideways glance at Edward who stared innocently at the teacher, as though he was completely oblivious that I'd just been handed a note in his handwriting.

I sighed and glanced down at the note, quickly reading it before deciding to ignore it. No way was I going to answer this;

_Are you annoyed that we have the same class together? _

Annoyed? Of course I was annoyed! But I wasn't going to tell him that, and not just because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. He was technically my dad, whether I liked it or not, so I didn't think it was wise to tell him straight out that he was annoying me. It wasn't his fault that the school was small.

But though I didn't know much about Edward, I did know that he didn't give up on things that he wanted. And apparently he either really wanted to know if he was a nuisance, or maybe he was just really bored. So it wasn't surprising when suddenly the paper disappeared before re-appearing back on my notebook with a new message added onto the original;

_You might as well answer me now. I will bug you later about it, so you might as well talk to me now. _

He was so pushy.

But he had a good point. And frankly I didn't feel like verbally explaining whatever it was that he wanted to talk about.

_Okay fine, yes, I'm sorry to say, you're irritating me. It's not your fault; it's just…weird to be in the same class with your __**dad**__. What would you have said if you walked in and your dad was sitting next to your seat? _

I finished my reply and quickly slid it back. Somehow I had a feeling that school would be more about passing notes during boring lectures than actually learning anything.

I didn't have to wait long for a reply – though it wasn't like I was waiting on it. I'm not desperate for entertainment.

_I don't remember my parents much, but if I walked into a class with Carlisle sitting by my seat, I would be a little miffed. _

_So you never told me; do you have any different abilities? _

I stared at the question before replying.

_That was really random. I mean, yea I do….not like Jade does, but still. Why? _

Edward grabbed the piece of paper the moment I was through. Apparently he really wanted to know. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Edward quickly scanned through my reply before erasing everything we'd written before. Nice. I have a tree hugger for a dad. If something happens to him and I was talking to some random mortal about my father, I know now that I can always say, "Well, my dad was a 'vegetarian' vampire who saved trees." Some dads go to work every day. Some dads save lives. My dad saves trees. Way to go, dad.

Edward quickly wrote something down before passing the note back. You know, no matter how fast he writes his handwriting still looks perfect. Mine doesn't work like that. I'm not saying it doesn't look really nice; it just isn't as nice as Edward's.

_Well I was thinking about how annoyed I was that your brother is blocking my powers and then I started thinking about how I didn't know anything about your abilities. So I'm curious; what are they? _

Was it really that important? I wanted to ask. I didn't see what the big deal was, since frankly they weren't all that amazing.

_Shouldn't you be paying attention?_ I wrote instead, deciding not to answer him. The truth was, when I thought about telling him what my powers were, I felt a little….self conscious. I've never really cared much for my power, and I never used it unless I really needed to. I wasn't like my brother who used his without noticing he was doing it until someone complained about it. Maybe I didn't want to tell him because I was afraid that maybe he'd think it was lame. I know, silly reason, right?

Judging by Edward's response, he was getting a little impatient with my lack of information. _Shouldn't you? Come on, it's not like we're learning anything new _– I quickly glanced up at Mr. Monroe to make sure he was still droning on about Japan in World War Two; I didn't think he'd much appreciate Edward's comment if he caught us, though I doubted he would—_so you might as well tell me. I'll just bother you about it. And if you don't tell me by the time we get your mother back, then I'll just get her to force you to tell me._

I glanced at Edward, extremely irritated by this point. He was looking forward, pretending to be paying attention, but I could see the corners of his lips pulled back into an amused smile. I let myself hiss lowly at him, too low for humans to notice. Edward's smile grew bigger. Did he enjoy annoying me? I looked back at the note and sighed. So that's why Jade was so annoying; he'd inherited it from our father.

_Fine, I'll tell you. And not because you threatened me; it's because you're so irritating and frankly I want you to stop getting on my nerves for a full twenty four hours. I highly doubt you can do that, but whatever. I have the power to create a protective shield. My shield protects me from mental and physical attacks. It's like a barrier. I don't really use it unless I really need to, that's probably why it's not as strong as Jade's power. I can only protect myself. Maybe one day I'll be able to protect others as well, but for now it it's still too weak. But I'm working on it….slowly._ Before I'd met Royce, I'd been doing just that; trying to strengthen my powers. But after I'd met him…I guess you could say that I got a little distracted. Not that it was just because of him; actually that's when we had a lot of Volturi encounters. But thankfully that died down a bit when Jade strengthened his power.

Not that it kept Royce from leaving me, but whatever.

Edward sent back a quick reply; _interesting….you should try more often. It could come in use to you and the ones you care about in the future. Thank you for co-operating with me. _

_You're welcome. _I wrote sarcastically back. When Edward read my response a second later, he smiled to himself as he stuffed the note into his pocket.

I was momentarily happy that he seemed to catch my sarcastic tone. Maybe one day he'd take the hint and leave my nerves alone.

From the proud smile on his face it was obvious that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

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I lounged against the driver's side of the car, waiting impatiently for the rest of my broken coven to show up. I'd already turned my slip into the office with all the signatures I'd needed and I'd avoided another confrontation with that crazy what's-her-face. Maybe Crin had done something stupid in from of what's-her-face again and Jade was just cleaning it up. For a brief moment I considered going to help him out – since no one should have to deal with that sort of insanity, even if she was right – but then I decided against it. If he insisted on making out openly with Crin, then I'd refuse to help him defend the secret from a crazy chick. Besides, who'd listen to her? She didn't seem to have any friends. Which was sort of sad, but still if it meant that our secret was kept safe, then it was for the best.

"Liz!" I turned my head to the sound of my brother's voice and groaned involuntarily. Jade and Crin were walking this way with Edward following closely behind. Didn't he go with Alice? Alice had left about five minutes ago in Edward's Volvo. Why didn't he go with her? Sure, we had room for him but it didn't mean that we _wanted_ him with us…or at least I didn't.

Hadn't he already made my life miserable enough?

I held my tongue as they approached me. "Sorry we're late," Jade apologized, "Crin spotted a cat and we had to keep her from going after it."

"They claim that it could be someone's pet, but it doesn't have a collar so I think that it's fair. I mean, the owner should have put a collar on so that people –especially hungry vampires—know that the cat is a pet." Crin growled irritably. "Kitties are yummy."

"Crin, there's probably a difference between cougars and house cats. I highly doubt house cats taste the same as cougars." Jade sighed.

I stared at Jade, a tight smile plastered on my face. Jade stared back, waiting for me to say that his tardiness was forgiven. My eyes flickered to Edward before flickering back to his. Jade immediately figured out what I was trying to ask him. "My last period is with him and he wanted to come with us. I didn't see any harm in it, so I let him. Technically it is his car anyways." Jade shrugged.

My eyes narrowed into a glare. "Fine, but you and Crin get to sit in the back then." Right now I could deal with sitting by Edward. At least Edward wasn't as brainless as my brother, who'd known that I wouldn't like being in the same car with Edward.

"What are you talking about? I'm driving." Jade frowned, pulling the keys out of his pocket to show that he was the one who had the keys.

I smiled at him, though the expression reflected in my eyes showed absolutely no friendliness. "But _you_ drove us to school. It's _my_ turn to drive."

Jade's eyes narrowed. "But I have the keys."

I rolled my eyes. Oh please, like that will stop me. "I guess I could just hotwire the engine and drive that way. I don't think Rosalie will be too happy with us, though. She might make us walk to school. Think about how that would look to the humans since our home isn't in the city limits." I smiled triumphantly as I watched Jade ponder my logic, finding it logical enough.

It didn't take him long to decide. "Fine, take the stupid keys. But don't think I won't take advantage of Crin being next to me." He reflected my smile, obviously thinking that he had me.

Boys. They really can't think things through, can they?

I shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to obey traffic laws and keep my eyes on the road then." Jade frowned again, his gold eyes narrowing. I smiled back innocently, holding out my hand for the keys. Without drawing his eyes away from mine, he dropped the keys into my hand. "Thank you!" I piped, opening the driver's door and sliding in.

Crin and Edward immediately got in – Edward looked like he wasn't very comfortable with the argument Jade and I had just had, but seemed relieved that we were done with it.

At least for now it was.

Jade reluctantly climbed into the seat directly behind me, grumbling too low for human ears to detect about my horrible driving skills. Anger flashed within me as I started the car, trying to keep my face composed to keep Edward from showering me with more questions. We learned to drive around the same time and frankly he wasn't much better than I was! And I drove alright. I mean, it wasn't perfect but it was certainly better than a human.

I pulled out of the parking space smoothly and quietly –and calmly—drove out of the parking lot and onto the highway, the only highway in the little town. I tried to keep from going way over the speed limit since I was sure that Jade was still making it so that Edward couldn't read minds. It would have been really helpful to have Edward make himself of use and watch out for pesky cops.

As I drove along the highway, my eyes scanning the road for the turn off that would lead us onto the road that led to the Cullen's house, Jade sighed irritably from behind me. "Can't you go any faster?"

My grip tightened on the wheel. "Maybe I would if SOMEONE would let Edward read minds for about fifteen minutes so that I can make sure to keep the speed limit around cops!" I snapped without looking away from the road.

"You don't have to rely on Edward for that sort of thing; I mean I speed all the time and I don't get caught by lousy cops." Jade complained again.

See? I knew he'd drag the argument out. He always does whenever I'm the one driving.

"Shut up, Jade." I mumbled, switching the radio on and turning it to the rock station.

"Turn it off, Liz." Jade complained again.

"No. I'm the one driving; I'll listen to whatever I want."

"Well its stupid."

"Oh please, you like this music too!"

"Not right now! I've…got a headache."

"No you don't, you're a freaking vampire, vampires don't get headaches."

"Says you!"

"Stop being so immature!" I turned around, glaring back at him. "My gosh, you act like you're a toddler."

"No I don't, you do!"

"Jade, seriously, grow up!" I growled.

"Keep your eyes on the road, little sister," Jade sneered, "You just missed the turn off."

I gasped, whirling forward. "CRAP!" I cried, quickly doing a U-turn. Though I didn't wreck anything, I did happen to cut off a truck that slammed on his breaks and honked as I sped back to the turn off and made another quick U-turn, this time checking I was clear before doing so. "LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!" I exclaimed, looking back at my brother in the mirror.

"I didn't make you miss the turn; I'm not the one driving, remember?" Jade smirked cockily.

I really, _really_ wanted to pull over and rip off a limb. Just one. It's not like he couldn't piece it back together.

But I refrained, instead trying to concentrate on the now completely empty road. Well, not completely empty. To the sides of the road were giant pine trees with over grown grass growing at the bottom of their trunks, swaying with the branches of the trees in the wind. Though I was now driving up to eighty miles an hour – it's not like there's going to be any cops on a road where there's only one house. The Cullens probably owned most of this land anyways—I could still hear the field mice scurrying through the bushes, the squirrels climbing up and down trees, chattering with one another and the deer grazing peacefully as birds flew over their heads, looking for the perfect perch to lay their nest. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Crin staring intently out the window, her eyes thoughtful as she contemplated what her next snack would be. She probably wasn't paying any attention to our argument. We weren't tearing each other apart – yet – and as long as we weren't trying to kill each other then she'd ignore it, especially if it was as stupid as our current one.

"Stop being so childish Jade." I growled, speeding up. We'd be home in no time, and right now I was really feeling like taking my anger out by hunting something big like a bear or something.

"Turn the radio off."

"No, I'll do whatever I want when I'm driving!"

"Yea, including getting us killed!"

"Hey," Edward, who'd been sitting stiffly in the passenger seat, listening quietly to our spiff, interjected. We ignored him.

"Oh please, a car crash isn't going to kill you." I rolled my eyes.

"If the car blows up, maybe."

The car isn't going to blow up, Rosalie would kill me."

"Maybe you should of thought of that before you started driving her car!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, WE'RE NOT GOING TO CRASH!"

"BOTH OF YOU STOP IT!" Edward finally roared, startling both of us. I slowed down a bit, my eyes darting to his now clearly annoyed expression. "I may not have been around all these years, but I know your mother enough to know that she would have taught you to behave much more maturely. You both are acting like toddlers and you both need to shut up!"

"How am I acting immature?" I protested, my hands tightening on the wheel. I loosened the hold when I felt the wheel starting to crunch under my hands.

"By reacting to your brother, you're only making him want to argue more." Edward answered sharply.

"Well if she wasn't such a…" Jade started but Edward whirled around the glare at him fiercely.

"You are the oldest, and the leader of your coven!" I mentally added 'broken' before the word 'coven' in his sentence, but I wouldn't have said anything. I knew Jade didn't feel the same way about our coven the way I did and I didn't think he'd like it too much if I expressed my feelings about it. That and the fact that Edward didn't know the reason behind it and I really didn't want to explain that. I'd rather face the Volturi myself than tell Edward about Royce. "You are supposed to set an example," Edward went on, "especially for your younger sister! Your mom would be ashamed if she heard the argument you two just had now and she'd agree with my decision to send you both to your rooms as soon as we get back!"

"_WHAT?"_ Both of us cried. I slammed on the brakes – we were at the house anyways, but it was still a rather abrupt stop. Crin was now looking at Edward with us, her eyes wide. Jade looked like he didn't know what to say. I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn't make my mouth form the words that I wanted to say.

It was Crin who was the first to speak. "You can't do that to them!" Very brave words, in my opinion. I don't think Edward would have cared if I'd said them – in fact, I had been planning to—since he was our dad and all, though he still probably wouldn't have been very happy with me, but Crin, his daughter-in-law? I didn't think he liked her very much in the first place – she did ruin his curtains to make a dress for herself – so I was surprised that Crin had the courage to contradict him.

Then again, she'd probably faced worse while serving for the Volturi.

Edward turned around in his seat to look at her in such a dark, menacing way that Jade immediately tensed and shifted his body so that he could get between them if a fight broke out—though Edward would probably win, I guessed. "Oh _really_?" Edward challenged his voice heavy with malice.

Nope, he _really_ wasn't very happy.

"No, you can't." Crin said, still relaxed against the seat. "I mean, who do you think you are? Their father?"

We all stared at her. Did she seriously just say what we thought she just said? Had she been hiding under a rock for the past few days? Or had she suddenly caught amnesia? I didn't think Vampires could get amnesia, but then again vampires weren't supposed to be able to have kids either.

"Crin," Jade whispered hesitantly, "he IS our father."

Crin looked at Jade blankly. "He is?" She looked back at Edward who now wore an incredulous expression all over his face. "Oh…oh yea, he is. Hm. Well, I guess he can do that to you. Little weird, since you and I are already mated and what not, but I guess I'll just go hunt. See you!" With that, she opened the car door and waltzed out.

As soon as she slammed the door, Edward shook his head, his hair flopping into his darkening gold eyes. He needed to hunt again soon. "That was weird…" he muttered.

"I thought you said you weren't going to treat us like kids!" I snapped, getting back to the matter at hand.

Edward rolled his eyes. "I didn't think you two would get into such a immature argument."

"But that's beside the point!" I cried.

Jade shook his head. "Just go with it, Liz. Don't give him more of a reason to carry out judgment."

"But Jade…" I complained, turning to look back at him. Suddenly I saw him stiffen. "What?" I asked, my body stiffening automatically. I shifted my gaze to look at Edward, who'd stiffened as well.

"What?" I asked again, my instincts starting to go wild as my eyes searched the area around us.

In the middle of the field, Crin had stopped her back to us. I'd thought she'd gone hunting…

As I took a closer look, I could see that she was crouching, her body rigid. A hiss immediately escaped through my teeth. If Crin was crouching like that in the middle of the field where there was clearly nothing near by to hunt, it could only mean one thing.

Danger was very close.

Within a few seconds Jade and I were out of the car and by Crin's side, both of us crouched on either side of her. Crin stared intently off into the trees, her teeth bared into a snarl. "What is it, Crin?" Jade asked. Crin didn't answer at first, only glared at the trees. I followed her gaze, trying to figure out what she was looking at.

There was something there. Something big. Had I been wrong about there being nothing to hunt around here? It looked like a bear at this distance, since it was still a ways off, crouched, staring back at us intently with black eyes. It looked a little big to be a bear. And it certainly didn't smell like a bear, either. It was a husky, wild, and yet fresh scent. Bears smelled a bit more musky and dirty. But though the animal didn't smell clean, it didn't smell like it'd never had a bath before.

"Crin, what is it?" Jade hissed, bringing my attention back to them. Jade had spotted the animal as well, his expression defensive and yet still confused. So he didn't know what it was either.

Crin didn't answer again, and I thought she wasn't going to, but suddenly she let out her answer in the form of a very low hiss. _"Werewolf."_

Both of us looked at her sharply; Jade looked disbelieving while I looked at her in utter shock. Was it the werewolves that our parents had faced so long ago? The ones who'd try to kill the Cullens if they ever crossed paths again?

"Crin, werewolves were wiped out a long time ago." Jade protested, still obviously confused on what was going on.

"No they didn't." I argued back quietly. Jade glared at me, obviously still annoyed with me from before.

"Yes, Aro said they'd wiped them all out." Jade argued back.

"Jade," Crin hissed, "I don't know if you've realized this yet, but Aro is a liar. He obviously didn't wipe them out because I'm looking at one right now and that 'Eve' girl has been imprinted on by one, not that she knows it from what we can see."

Jade was argued no more about the existence of werewolves – he never contradicted Crin. I wish she would have told him to shut up earlier, then maybe we wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble with Edward – but he seemed confused by what she was saying. "Imprinted?" He said the word like it was from a foreign language.

I sighed irritably and turned back to look at Edward. He'd gotten out of the car and was leaning against the front of the BMW, his eyes staring intently at the werewolf, his expression blank. Was this one of the werewolves that he'd known?

More importantly, was it 'Jacob Black'?

Before I could ask questions, Edward was by my side, still with the same blank expression on his face. "Jade, let me listen to his mind please." Edward ordered in a calm voice.

"Um…I don't really understand what's going on, but alright…" Jade closed his eyes, concentrating. I waited for him to open his eyes, and once he did, Edward stepped forward towards the wolf. Crin snarled in warning, but Edward held up a hand as though to tell her to calm down.

"All will be explained soon, Jacob." Edward answered an unspoken question that hadn't come from one of us.

So it _was _Jacob.

"We don't mean any harm, Jacob. Eve is alright; in fact, she hasn't been touched by anyone of us. If you'd like to come inside, we'll be happy to explain everything." Crin hissed in response. "Well, I'll do it calmly, at least." Edward sighed.

The animal in the forest slowly moved from its crouch, stalking forward towards the clearing quickly. We watched as he emerged from the trees, his black eyes cautious as he eyed the three of us standing behind Edward.

"They weren't changed by us." Edward answered another question. "We'll explain everything once we're inside." I stared at the wolf in front of me. He didn't seem to be dangerous…once you looked past the claws and the bared teeth…

Slowly I stepped forward. Jade growled in warning, but I ignored him. I didn't think Edward would let the wolf hurt me if it attacked, and I could take care of myself. He shouldn't worry so much.

I stopped by Edward's side. The wolf stared into my eyes, its giant, reddish body tensed and waiting as it watched to see what I did next.

"Obviously only Edward can understand you," I started, just loud enough for my voice to carry across the clearing, "and frankly I don't think Esme would like a gigantic dog in her house…she seems to be more of a cat person. So…if there's some way to make it so that we can all understand you and that you're not so big, please make it happen."

The wolf stared at me for a long moment. "No, she doesn't mean any harm." Edward answered. "This isn't a trick. She knows enough of our history to know that you aren't to be attacked." The wolf growled, but backed into the trees.

"What's he doing?" I asked Edward, alarmed that I'd somehow offended Jacob. I didn't want to make the wolves hate the Cullens more than necessary.

"He's changing back into a human." Edward answered, "So that we can talk."

"What does he want to know?" I asked warily. Did I want to know?

"Mostly he wants to know that Eve is truly safe, but he's going to put that off till after he talks with us." Edward answered before hesitating.

"And?" I prompted. If he was going to bombard me with questions then so could I.

And I'd make sure that he answered them, too.

"And he wants to talk to Bella."

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**Um...I'm going to skip to the number one question I got, which was; **

**WHERE ARE YOU?! WHY HAVEN'T YOU UPDATED?! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU HAD THINGS WRITTEN IN AN OUTLINE AND THAT UPDATES WOULD BE FASTER!? **

**Well, here's my answer; **

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY!! WHEN I SAID THAT, I DIDN'T HAVE A JOB THAT TOOK UP MOST OF MY ENERGY!! And I DO have it all organized, but it takes a lot to get it all down on paper, so I'm sorry!! I'm trying really hard, believe me!! Not only that, but I've been working on my own story because...well, frankly I don't want to be a fanfic writter forever. So I've been working really hard on that too. My summer has just gotten really busy, thats all. I'm soooo sorry!! Please forgive me!! I really am trying!! **

**But you guys did make me laugh. Because I had so many people conclude that the previous chapter was the last. And it made me laugh because that would have been such a lame ending, it would have been pitiful. I would NEVER settle for that sort of ending. And frankly I'm really not sure about the sequel just yet. Lets finish this one first, okay? Then we'll start talking. **

**klutzyspaz****; aw i had hoped for no spoilers because i haven't read eclipse yet.**

anyway i really like this thought i should let you know

how old is Jacob because it seems really odd that he'd be dating a high school student

**Answer; Jacob doesn't age. I hope you've read Eclipse by now...its really good...but yeah he doesn't age. He can if he stops transforming, but he keeps doing it. So...he's going to be sixteen for a little while longer. XD You know, you're username sounds familiar...hm. Weird, huh? XD**

**LoveorHate14****; When are Edward and bella going to get back together?? When is Royce comming back and why dose Royce sound like Rosalie Ex Fiance??**

**Answer; first of all, technically Edward and Bella are still a couple. They're just not with one another. But seriously, don't ask that cause...we've still got a while. And I just answered when Royce is comming back. Hold your horses, he's comming back soon. Sooner than Bella, at least. And Royce isn't Rosalie's ex-fiancee. They just have the same name. Royce is just a good name, and it fit Liz's boyfriend's character, so thats how he got his name. Like Elizabeth is a total typical Vampire name but the only reason I gave it to her was because once again the name fit her character. So my Royce and Rosalie's ex Fiancee's Royce are totally two different people. Besides, Rosalie's ex fiancee Royce is dead. XD Long dead. TEEHEE!! **

**I'll update ASAP. Just keep in mind that I do have a job and another origional story that I'm working on, so please try to be patient! **

**Love**

**Your Still Faithfull Alice**


	10. Chapter 10

"Come on in, Jacob." Edward invited Jacob after he'd changed back into a person, holding the door out for him. Jacob stared at Edward suspiciously. "This isn't a trick, Jacob. We seriously need to talk." Edward answered Jacob's unspoken thoughts aloud, his voice hard. Edward apparently wasn't in the mood for Jacob's tomfoolery, I mentally thought, trying to see a bright side in this. So far there wasn't any.

Jacob was alright looking, for a technical human, I thought. He was extremely tall – I didn't even know that it was possible to get that tall; he could be a basketball player if he wanted to!—but although he wore a tough-guy expression on his attractive face, I could see that underneath he was still practically a boy. But obviously if he knew my mom before she married Edward and became a vampire then he obviously was not as young as he looked. I was twenty five, and my parents had been together for ten years – not including the time they'd been human—before they were separated. So he was obviously much older than I was.

And I was taken. Not to mention I didn't think Edward would be too happy about me being with a werewolf.

"Let's make this quick, blood-sucker; I don't want to be inhaling your stink all night." Jacob growled as he walked up the steps and quickly walked into the house.

"I do not smell bad," I murmured to Jade as we walked into the house behind him. Edward shook his head.

"Ignore him, he just doesn't like the way any vampire smells like we don't like the way werewolves smell." Edward murmured quietly as I passed him. He smelled? I wondered. I didn't smell anything unpleasant about him. Sure he smelled a little dirty, but nothing a shower couldn't fix. Mostly he just smelled like pine needles…

When I entered the living room, everyone was already in the living room, sitting on the furniture in a casual way as possible, but all of them were tense. Crin stood in the furthest corner, glaring at Jacob. From what I could see, no one liked the idea of being in the same room with Jacob.

Poor guy.

As soon as Edward had shut the door, Carlisle stood casually, a broad and yet tense smile on his face. It was like dealing with the Volturi all over again, except this time it was with a werewolf, something I had no experience with. "Welcome, Jacob; long time no see. How have you been?" his voice sounded genuine though, that was good.

Jacob stared at him for a long time before his eyes started to take in the inhabitants of the room. "Where's Bella?" he asked, his voice gruff. All of us tensed, looking at one another. "Where is she?" his voice rose as he observed our reaction to his question.

"Jacob, you're going to have to remain calm." Edward started, "She's fine…" for now, I added mentally, knowing that was what Edward was thinking as well. "Jacob…after we left we spent ten years up here, all of us were together but…well…something happened." You could tell Edward didn't want to share this with anyone, especially Jacob who had been his rival in love.

"What happened?" Jacob barked, turning on Edward. Edward didn't look phased.

"Almost twenty six years ago she went hunting. She wasn't feeling well and she was feeding more often, so she left on an extra hunting trip alone. I didn't think anything of it, it wasn't the first time she'd gone off hunting alone, but she was supposed to come home a few hours later. When she didn't show up, we all thought that at first she was just a little late, but after an hour and a half had passed and still no sign of Bella, we went searching for her." Edward paused, his voice tightening as pain started to trickle into his expression. It looked to me as if he were trying to hold it back; maybe it was because he didn't want Jacob, his formal rival, to see his pain, or maybe it was to look tough. I didn't know. All I knew was that even though his expression battled between pain and tranquility, it was obvious just by looking at the look in his normally calm and yet sad eyes that he was going through a lot of pain just to even re-tell the story. The expression in his eyes was…tragic. Even me, who was sort of mad at him for grounding me felt bad for him. It was like all the anger and blame I'd been feeling towards him disappear.

But when I looked at Jacob to see if he was feeling the same, I decided that he wasn't. His expression looked appalled and angered. It didn't look like he was going to have a change of heart towards Edward anytime soon.

"We found her car on the roadside of the reservation she said she'd be at, but when we scoured the forest for her…we couldn't find a trace of her." Edward turned away from Jacob, staring at the floor as if he were trying to regain composure. Watching him like that, I could understand why he didn't tell us how our mom had been kidnapped in the first place; it was obviously something he wasn't ready to talk about. But although I could see that, I still felt bad. If he had told me that in the beginning, maybe I wouldn't have felt like he'd abandoned me – though yes, I know that wasn't possible since he didn't even know of my existence till about a week ago, but still. How could I have let a complete stranger walk into my life, acting as a fatherly figure? How could I trust him? Those had been my feelings about Edward before; I'd tried to avoid him, tried to avoid anything that would allow him to get to know me, for me to get to know him, and I had thought I'd been doing a good job of keeping him out of my life.

But now I could see that I was wrong. Whether I liked it or not, I was allowing him to slowly get into my life, and maybe subconsciously I could see that; maybe that was why I fought so hard to be rude to him, to avoid him. But listening to him speak about how he'd lost my mother and, technically, us as well – not that Jacob knew that…yet—I could see his pain. How much he loved my mother, how much he longed for her. It reminded me of my own pain of losing Royce; and Royce hadn't been gone for almost twenty six years—thank goodness for that. Not only could I see that Edward and I somehow shared this bond between us, what with both of us knowing what it was like to lose someone you cared about for a long period of time, but I could now see that he truly did love and deserve my mom. And anyone who loved my mom that much was someone I would fully accept and love as well.

"What about her scent? Surely you would have been able to find a scent…" Jade's voice pulled me out of my contemplation and back into the present where Edward was still looking intently at the floor, his auburn hair falling into his eyes and shadowing his expression and his fists clenched at his sides.

"It had been raining all day." Edward answered in a flat voice. That was all that needed to be said; rain would wash away the scent within an hour and a half at least. If the Volturi had grabbed my mom immediately after she'd started hunting – which had probably happened since they usually liked to leave no traces of evidence behind—then the rain would have washed the scent almost immediately.

"Why didn't you go find her?" Jacob demanded; his whole body was shaking in an alarming way. How could someone not lose their balance with that much shaking?

"We all tried," Alice spoke up; I didn't think Edward could take anymore. "We searched anywhere we could think of, we spent years searching, Jacob; it was us who dragged Edward back. Normally we would have let him go, but…we didn't trust Edward alone. We were all starting to lose hope, even Edward, though he'd never admit it, and when he loses hope…well, you remember the last time he thought he'd lost Bella." The last time? I wondered, looking at Jade curiously. Jade met my inquiring gaze and shrugged. I mentally filed that question into the "ask-someone-later" folder in my mind.

Jacob acted as if he hadn't heard her. "You claimed you'd protect her, and now you don't know where she is or if she's alright! You're here moping around, letting yourself waste away while Bella's probably in danger, knowing her! You call yourself a man?"

That was it. I couldn't take Jacob's crap anymore. Before I knew what I was doing, I stepped forward, my hands on my hips. "Oh please, Jacob; shut up and listen to yourself. You have no idea what he's been through…what we've all been through these past twenty five, almost twenty six years! If the Cullen's had allowed him to, Edward would have torn the universe apart looking for my mother; how dare you, out of all people accuse my father of not protecting her? He did EVERYTHING possible to protect her and he still holds to that. You think he's a sorry excuse for a man? How about you? You're the one who had no chance with my mom and yet you still had your little fantasies of her leaving my father to go with you. Stop getting your panties in a bunch and let us freaking tell you what we know! Edward was speaking in past tense, you idiot!" I sighed irritably and rubbed my temples as though I actually had a headache, "stupid hypocrites like you make me so angry…" I groaned in a quieter, calmer voice.

Absolute silence.

Everyone in the room stared at me, utter shock and confusion written all over their faces. Jacob and Edward stared at me; Jacob with some anger but mostly he just looked confused. I didn't blame him; here I was a vampire he'd never met before in his life and I was spouting things about his personal life that a complete stranger wouldn't have ever known. Edward was looking at me like I'd told him a ground hog had eaten my baby. I replayed over what I'd just said in my mind and realized why Edward might have been shocked. "How dare you, out of all people accuse my father of not protecting her?" I'd called him father out in front of everyone, out of my own will. If I could have blushed, I knew I would have been doing it at that moment.

"Who do you think you are? How dare you accuse me of…" Jacob started but I groaned, cutting him off as I rolled my eyes, forgetting my embarrassment momentarily.

"Oh my GOSH, are you dense or do you purposely choose what you want to hear and what you don't want to hear? I just told you that Bella is my MOTHER and Edward is my FATHER! How hard is that to understand?" I exaggerated the 'mother' and 'father' to get my point across, but it only seemed to shock everyone – especially Jacob and Edward—even more. Jade was suddenly immediately at my side, his eyes wide and cautious.

"Elizabeth, shut up." He muttered in my ear. I looked up at him in annoyance. Why was he always trying to tell me what to do? I may be five minutes younger and he may be the leader of our broken coven, but he was still my brother and we were technically in America. I had a right to do whatever I wanted and say whatever I wanted.

"Why should I?" I demanded my hand on my hip.

Jade leaned down to whisper in my ear, casting a wary glance at Jacob who was still staring at me. "Did you see his teeth earlier? Those things would rip you apart! Please, for once in your life, shut up." He growled seriously.

I looked back at Jacob skeptically. I could remember the old stories about how werewolves defeated Vampires, but it was still hard to believe staring at this boy. Sure, he had anger issues, and he was dense in the head, but he was still more human than we were. Physically, I mean.

Jacob stared at me for a little while longer before he turned back to Edward, who was now staring at Jacob warily, his body tensed and leaning towards me as though he were expecting Jacob to lose control and attack me. "How is that possible? Who is she seriously, another one of your new vampire friends?" he sounded like he was trying to sound disgusted, but his vocal cords sounded numb with shock still.

Edward sighed and nodded. "It's true, Jacob; I can't not only read their minds like I couldn't their mothers, but I saw the evidence in Crin's memories. She was with Bella from almost the time she found out she was pregnant till about ten years ago, when they escaped from the Volturi."

Jacob's face had frozen in shock the more Edward talked about the proof, but when he mentioned the Volturi's name his face melted into a look of pure horror. "You mean…"

Edward nodded. "They're the type of Vampire's your kind hates. They are the true meaning of 'vampire'. They apparently captured her…I should have known; Aro had been trying to convince Bella to join him when he learned of her powers and how useful they could b to him when properly trained." Edward's expression hardened, "and Aro's method of 'training' isn't what you'd call a 'nice' learning experience."

Silence followed his words. I looked back up at Jade, our eyes meeting and instantly both of us shuddered; we remembered what they did to her. What they were still doing to her. It was never physical torture of course; it was more of a mental torture. Aro would keep working her till she could go no more and then as soon as there would be energy he'd have her test more. Sure, her powers had grown tremendously, but they shouldn't have been strengthened with that method.

"Why didn't she escape then?" Jacob demanded, turning on Crin, his eyes blaming. Jade tensed by my side, ready to help Crin if Jacob attacked her.

Crin didn't look phased. She looked more irritated that a werewolf was speaking to her directly. "We tried to escape, that was the plan. But the Volturi was hot on our trail, and Bella being…well, Bella, figured the only way to free her children from the grasp of the Volturi was to stay behind and distract them. We didn't want to leave her, but she made us go."

Jacob stared at Crin, trying to see if she was telling the truth or not. After a while he sighed and shook his head. "Foolish Bella…" he murmured and turned away from Crin and turning his gaze on us. "And what about you two? Why aren't you two fighting to get your mother back?"

I wanted to smack this boy; not just for accusing us of abandoning our mother but for bringing up painful memories. Leaving my mother behind was the worst day of my life; I didn't need to be reminded of it. I was about to chew Jacob out some more but Jade interrupted me in his calm manner; "We've been doing everything we can, Jacob; there isn't much just…a few of us can do against a army of well trained vampires." I relaxed; he'd kept from revealing our broken coven's true number.

Jacob scrutinized my brother, his dark eyes boring into my brother's gold ones. "So what are you going to do?" he asked his voice low and husky.

Edward didn't waste a second to answer, his voice dangerous and his expression looked very much like the expression a vampire would typically have. I shuddered, taking a step backwards behind Jade. Sometimes Jade's presence was comforting. "All of us will attack the Volturi at once. Three vampires wouldn't faze the Volturi, but ten of us…that could at least stand a chance."

Jacob had turned back to Edward, his body tense. "And what about you? You've said the Volturi has never been overthrown before; how do you know that you'll come out of the battle successful?"

Edward's expression was hard as he looked at Jacob, and by the expression on his face I knew what he would say. "We don't know; but I'm not going to abandon my wife." I shuddered, and looked up at my older brother. He was still staring intently at Edward and Jacob, listening and watching to their conversation. Although my brother could be a complete idiot sometimes, but I still loved him. He was my brother, nothing could change that. We were the only two alike in the whole world; we were like peas in a pod. I couldn't see any future without my brother at least being near where I was. We'd never been separated before. I didn't want to lose my brother; just the thought was unbearable.

And Crin…she'd always been there, watching over us, protecting us…and now that she was Jade's, she was even more like family. Sure, she was a little…odd…but that had just made her…Crin. She'd helped deliver us, heck she'd even eaten baby food to show me that it tasted good – although it hadn't; I wonder if human babies don't like baby food as much as vampire babies don't. I couldn't lose her either.

Then my eyes scanned over the Cullen's. I'd only met them a few weeks ago but I'd already developed a relationship with most of them – I still hadn't talked much with Rosalie and Emmett—and I couldn't lose them when I'd just gotten them in my life.

Just as my eyes turned back to Jacob, a thought pierced me. What if this fight wasn't just with Vampires? Jacob had a relationship with my mother before; if he still cared for her, would he come to her aid still? Yes, she'd chosen my father and become his enemy, but she was still the same girl…at least that's what I assumed. "Jacob," I gushed excitedly, stepping in front of Jade again. Jacob and Edward turned to me, their expressions expectant and slightly annoyed – well, Jacob's was at least. "What would you say if I said that there was a chance that you could help out?"

"Why would I want to help you out?" Jacob protested angrily, taking a step towards me. Jade crouched in front of me, snarling in warning. The rest of the Cullen's tensed, their eyes on Jacob, watching his every move. Jacob's eyes stayed on Jades and then he backed down by Edward's side again.

"Because don't you want to kill vampires, the ones who do people harm? The ones who would even harm their own kind?" I answered Jacob's question calmly as though nothing had happened between my broken coven, the Cullen's and Jacob. "If your pack works together with our coven, then maybe we can save my mother and teach the Volturi a lesson in messing with innocents!"

"It isn't the first time that we worked together; the last time it was a major success." Carlisle quietly reminded Jacob. Jacob stared at me for a moment, and then at Edward.

"What about you? Do you think this is a good idea?" Jacob demanded in a hard voice.

Edward was quiet for a moment. "Your pack was of great help to us the last time; I would appreciate your help again."

Jacob nodded and then looked down at the ground as if he found the carpet very interesting. He stood like that for a while; all of us had our eyes intently on him, waiting. Finally, Jacob looked up at Carlisle.

"I will talk to my pack about helping you. I can't guarantee anything yet." Carlisle nodded as all of us let out a breath at once.

"Thank you, Jacob." Jacob hesitated and then nodded. He then turned and headed for the back door.

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**Okay, look guys. I know I haven't updated for a while, but it's not because I've given up on this story. I NEVER give up on a story with a good story line. And this story has a good story line. So I'm not going to abandon the story.**

**But seriously, guys; be patient with me. I have an AP class, physics (EW), math, other boring classes, and Choir and Theatre to deal with. Then I have Piano lessons, another fanfic that I think is good and I'm working on, and two of my own stories that I'm trying to work on so that one day I can get them published. I don't want to be doing fan fiction the rest of my life, I don't know about you. I have church, after school rehearsals, club meetings, and I'd also like time with friends and family. **

**I know you guys want another chapter; I want to be FINISHED with this next chapter. I can't promise anything. For those of you who gave me sweet, pleading reviews, thanks. I appreciate that you love the story so much. But don't give me a review like this; **

**omigod!  
i totally hate you now.  
seriously.  
i haven't checked here for like 2 MONTHS and you haven't even UPDATE!?  
SERIOUSLY.  
and i don't even use this site anymore.  
i just jonasbrother offical fanfiction. or whatever  
i am evilbunny7  
and i am awesome.**

**Well, get a life. Seriously, JONAS BROTHER fan fiction? I didn't even know obsession went that far. They're good singers, and they're kind of cute, but I'm sorry…._fan fiction? _What is wrong with that? You know all of it is pretty much going to be the Jonas Brothers meeting the author and one of them – if not all of them—falling head over heals in love with her or he. I'm sorry, that just made me laugh. I normally won't do a fan fiction unless I see an actual point in doing so. And I don't see a point in Jonas Brother fan fiction. **

**Seriously, where is the world of writing going to? Sorry if I offended any of the rest of you, but that review just kind of ticked me off. And normally I don't respond to hate mail. It's just that this one just kind of ticked me off and I felt that I should address you all in why I'm not updating as much. **

**Well, I'll try to update as soon as possible. **

**Love**

**Alice**


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